We Don't Talk Anymore
by Accio Lumos
Summary: Elizabeth has shut herself off from everything she cares about, concentrating on work to ignore the pain she's bottled for the last year. Her family and friends are concerned but nobody can get through to her. But one evening, catching up with her friends at the usual pub on their usual Friday night ritual, an old friend returns. Can Will coax Lizzy out of her withdrawal?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is the rewrite of We Don't Talk Anymore, some things have remained the same, others have been changed so you might recognise some of the same writing as before. This is still a short story, most likely to be completed within ten chapters but less than fifteen if I go over ten. It's a modern-day setting, sometimes characters might seem OOC and some things have been changed from canon, EG: Charles is an only child and Caroline is not a Bingley.

Ages are as follows: Charles and Will are twenty-four. Jane, Richard and Anne are twenty-three. Elizabeth and Charlotte are twenty-two.

 **Disclaimer:** The usual applies, sadly I'm not Jane Austen.

 **Rating** is M as this story will be a little emotional and covers an experience that I struggled with a few times. So usual warnings apply: don't read if you can't deal with difficult experiences, don't read if you don't like M rated stories.

 **We Don't Talk Anymore**

 **Chapter One**

It was seven o'clock on a crisp Friday evening in late September in the city of Portsmouth. At this time of year, the city was welcoming back the large number of rowdy students for another academic year at the university. This week was famously known as 'fresher's week', which saw a large percentage of the students queueing outside the various nightclubs down Guildhall Walk, wanting to take advantage of one-pound drinks and free entry into all the clubs, the photo booth and props at The Fuzzy Duck and the small mechanical bull that was used for student nights at Yates'. While most students were taking advantage of a cheap night out, a navy-blue taxi drove around the corner away from the clubs and stopped outside a pub. The brunette woman sat in the back of the taxi brushed a loose strand of her wavy hair behind her ear and handed over the only five-pound note in her purse to the driver, telling him to keep the change as she stepped out of the car.

Elizabeth Bennet looked up at the bright red sign above the door of the pub, named The Fleet, and bit her lip nervously. She contemplated what was awaiting her inside, knowing that if she didn't step inside she would get an earful of nagging from her sister. She had promised she would come, knowing it had been six months since her last 'Fleet Friday' and the last time she had properly got together with all her friends. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward into the pub, the door closing squeakily behind her.

Her bright green eyes scanned the crowded room, the sound of loud conversations filling her ears until she saw the person who had been texting her on and off throughout the day, nagging her to come once her paperwork had been filled out, waiting for her at the bar. She walked through the various crowded tables, weaving in and out until she reached the bar and tapped the woman on the shoulder. The blonde woman turned, smiling brightly at her.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here," the woman greeted, her eyes scanning her up and down, "Still wearing your work attire?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and let out a light laugh, hugging the woman briefly before the two turned back to the bar.

"I didn't have time to change if you wanted me here at seven." Elizabeth stated.

"You could have left at five like everyone else at the office."

"I had some paperwork to finish up."

"At this time on a Friday evening?" the blonde questioned.

"Jane, don't start this again." Elizabeth said quietly.

"It's a valid argument Lizzy. I'm your sister and I'm allowed to be concerned about you." The blonde pointed out.

The bartender came up to the two of them and asked for their drinks order. Elizabeth ordered her usual glass of house red and topped up her sister's rum and coke and waited as the bartender walked away to prepare their drinks. She turned to face her older sister, letting out a light sigh. What was supposed to be a peace offering by turning up for a catch-up with her sister and friends on a Friday night was now starting to make her feel like she should have made up an excuse and returned to the two-bedroom flat she rented in Gunwharf Quays. The last thing she wanted was to be lectured about her lack of social life and commitment to her work.

"It's been a busy week Jane, that's all." Elizabeth tried to assure her sister, hoping that Jane would take the line that was becoming more like a motto.

Jane raised an eyebrow at her, brushing a blonde curl behind her ear.

"It's _always_ a busy week for you, Lizzy. You haven't been home for a Sunday roast with me, dad or Lydia for about a month now." Jane muttered.

"Jane, work is great for me right now. I thought you'd be happy for me. I've worked there for fifteen months and I've already been promoted twice. I started out as an assistant and now I'm working on the same floor as Charles. Business is great, I love my job. I'm fine." Elizabeth insisted.

"You're not 'fine' Lizzy. You work too hard and never relax. You haven't done girl's night, shopping trips, dinner out, cinema in weeks. That's the problem. You make plans and then bail because you're too tired or you're stuck at the office. For once it would be nice if I didn't have to nag you to come to Fleet Fridays." Jane argued.

"What do you think tonight is for?" Elizabeth asked.

"To catch-up with the group about things other than work. Charles has already filled us in on what's going on at Longbourn & Co." Jane replied.

"I thought he might've done." Elizabeth sighed.

The bartender placed their drinks on the bar with the two sisters thanking him as the two of them headed over to one of the booths in the far-left corner of the pub that was filled with a group of people that Elizabeth had been friends with since childhood. A woman sat on the end got up from her seat and hugged Elizabeth tightly, her short brown hair tied up into a messy bun and her blue eyes lit up excitedly in greeting.

"Long day at the office?" Charlotte asked teasingly.

Elizabeth nodded.

"Something like that. But I'm here now." She replied.

"You should've left at five like I did Lizzy." Charles smiled, standing up with his empty glass to head up and order another drink.

She watched as her red-headed friend gave Jane a kiss on the cheek before hugging her briefly. Despite working closely with Charles at Longbourn & Co., a property development company, she rarely got the chance to speak with him during office hours and she pulled a lot of overtime, offering to finish everyone else's deadlines when work needed to be done.

"Maybe next time." Elizabeth replied with a smile.

Charles left the group and walked up to the bar to order himself another drink when Elizabeth gave the others in their friendship group a quick hug before sitting in the empty space next to Charlotte. The people who sat around her had been her friends since she had been old enough to walk, having been neighbours and grown up on the same road since they were children. Charlotte Lucas, Charles Bingley, Anne de Bourgh, Richard Fitzwilliam and the Bennet girls had been through every stage of life together up until now. They had played together as children, went to the same primary and secondary schools, had attended university together (well, at different year stages, there were age gaps between them all). It was a tradition really. Their parents and grandparents had all grown up together, passing down the tradition of friendship and trust to each generation that had been born. First had come Charles and William Darcy, then Anne, Jane and Richard had been born a year later and then Elizabeth and Charlotte a year after.

Being back in The Fleet made Elizabeth silently reflect in fondness at the memories she and her friends had created in the pub. During the week she would do separate things with each of her friends, dinners with Anne and Jane, girl nights in and shopping trips and lunches with Charlotte, lunch with Charles and Richard, dinners and drinks with Will, but Fleet Fridays were when they all came together as a group. It didn't matter if she or her friends had met any of the others separately during the week, they still came together on Friday nights and made memories. Their weekly rituals of meeting at the same table at the same time every Friday evening had been happening since she had turned eighteen. They would vent about their work weeks when Charles and Will had graduated from university first and gotten their jobs. The Fleet had been where they would have quiz nights, it was their first stop on a night out clubbing down Guildhall Walk, it had been the place of so many laughs and so many talks. It had been the first place they had gone to when Charles had proposed to Jane eighteen months ago even though they were still nowhere on settling on a date for their wedding.

"So, Anne was just about to fill us in on her latest date." Charlotte informed her.

Nothing new there. Anne was always informing them on her latest date. She was just as hopeless as Elizabeth was in the love department.

"A date eh?" Elizabeth teased lightly.

Anne closed her eyes beneath her small circular framed glasses as her cheeks turned the lightest tint of pink; moving her hands to cover her glasses as she nodded her head.

"It didn't go well." Richard added with a chuckle.

"No?" Elizabeth asked.

"Nope." Anne sighed.

"What happened?" Jane questioned.

Anne took a large swig from her glass of wine as she opened her eyes.

"He was perfectly nice. Very charming and cheeky, he has this amazing smile but…" Anne trailed off.

"But…" Charlotte pressed.

"He's a little narcissistic." Anne groaned.

"How?" Elizabeth requested, drinking some of her own wine.

Anne cleared her throat.

"I can take looking in a mirror and I can even take using the forward-facing camera on your phone if you've got something on your face. But he kept using a spoon to check if he had something stuck in his teeth and bragging about the nose work that he had done and how much better looking he is now. He also kept twirling a longish bit of hair around his little finger and telling me how much he loves his hair!" Anne complained.

"Oh Annie!" Charlotte laughed sympathetically.

"I'm awful, aren't I? I always moan that I want to meet someone but there's always something that puts me off on the first date!" Anne moaned.

"You aren't awful," Jane assured her, "You just haven't felt that connection with anyone yet."

"Like Jane said. You will find someone eventually, it just takes some people a while. Besides, if you don't meet someone I'd like to be the one to buy you your first cat." Richard teased.

"Aww that's so nice of you Rich, thank you, dear cousin." Anne replied sarcastically, picking up her glass once more and pressing the rim to her lips.

"Right I'm going out for a smoke, anyone coming?" Richard asked.

Charles re-joined the group, placing his glass on the table as he gave Jane another light kiss before he accompanied Richard and Charlotte outside for a cigarette; leaving Jane, Elizabeth and Anne at their table.

"Ignore Richard, you know what he's like." Elizabeth assured Anne, trying to cheer her friend up.

"I'm going to end up alone surrounded by cats, aren't I?" Anne asked hysterically.

"No, you won't." Jane promised.

"Easy for you to say! You and Charles have been together since he left university three years ago!" Anne cried out.

"But to be fair Annie, they've been crazy about each other since sixth form." Elizabeth argued lightly.

"That's true." Anne mused.

As she listened to her sister and friend continue to chat about their lives, with Anne chatting about her potential promotion as the deputy head of care at the care home she worked at as an adult nurse, Jane discussed how her new bunch of early years children were settling into their first year of formal education, her thoughts drifted to her own non-existent love life. While it was nothing new that Anne had yet to form a relationship past a few dates, she couldn't exactly comment on it. Her longest relationship had been with one of her housemates when she was in her first year at university, but it had only lasted for six months and her last relationship had been a mistake. After she had landed a job as an assistant at Longbourn & Co. she had decided to date her colleague, George Wickham and well…that relationship had ended badly and even to this day, George was still a bad smell that lingered around the office.

And the most recent man she had slept with a year ago…

But before she could dwell more on the subject, they were joined back at the table by Charlotte.

"Where's Charles and Rich?" Anne asked.

"Outside. We have an extra body joining us tonight." Charlotte squealed, bouncing up and down on the spot with excitement.

"Who?" Elizabeth asked, frowning in confusion.

Charlotte nodded her head in the direction behind her, causing Elizabeth, Jane and Anne to look behind her and instantly she felt surprised at who was walking back to their table with Charles and Richard. She felt her heart beat nervously against her chest as the man walking towards them kept his eyes fixed on her, his brown eyes so warm and welcoming as they had always been. He was just as tall as she remembered, his curly brown hair cut a little shorter than she remembered from their last meeting.

Anne leapt from her seat, scrambling around the table until she flung her arms around her cousin's neck and hugged him tightly. Next was Jane to greet their long-missed friend. But Elizabeth remained sat in her seat. Feeling completely stunned.

"Will, it's so good to have you back." Jane said warmly as she released him.

And while William Darcy smiled at her sister, his eyes remained locked on to hers. She could see his smile, how his eyes lit up when he looked at her. The same way he had looked at her for as long as she could remember. She could remember every single detail about him, it wasn't exactly like she could forget one of her best friends in a hurry, as hard as she tried to forget about him. The sound of his musical laugh, that smirk he got whenever he found something amusing that she found annoying, the way he teased her back without hesitation, the long conversations that they used to have that would last hours. The way they would call or text every day. The way he hugged her tightly whenever she'd had a bad day or was feeling vulnerable.

The way his lips moved over hers. The way his naked body felt pressed up against hers. The way he kissed her so passionately but so lovingly that expressed his pent-up desire for her. The way they'd made love together…

 _No Lizzy. Don't go back there. It won't do you any good. Keep that door in your mind firmly closed and a lid on your emotions._

They'd only had that one night together. One amazing, loving night together that had screwed things up between them. He was a journalist, working for the local paper when thirteen months ago he'd been offered a job with the BBC to film a documentary about life in Thailand. It would require nine months of traveling and filming, but he promised to stay in touch. Until they'd had one night together. They had crossed the line of friendship and when he had offered to stay with her, she'd insisted he go because it was an amazing opportunity.

 _"Opportunities like this don't come around this often."_

And she'd stood by that. Will had told her he would be back and forth between London and Thailand and he'd given her the number for the London office if she needed to get in touch with him if she couldn't reach his mobile phone. But he'd promised that they would talk about a possible 'more' between them when the time was right. Well, emails, calls and texts happened whenever he was able to do so but then she'd left him a message at the London office after not being able to get through to him. Will had never called her back and when she needed him the most he hadn't been there…

Well after she threw herself into work to distract her from the pain and confusion she felt. She'd tell herself that they weren't compatible, it was a mistake to fall into bed with him and now she had to face the consequences. She'd tell herself that he regretted their night together, just something she told herself to get through the difficult days. The truth was she'd thought about Will every day for the past year because she couldn't get him out of her head. But every day that passed she slowly accepted a little more that Will was experiencing this amazing, different world and he was meeting new, wonderful people and he might not have room for her anymore.

And now here she was, sat in their regular pub with her friends watching as he took a seat between her and Anne as if nothing had happened and they were on good terms. She tried not to react as she felt his leg rest next to her right one, his hand reaching for hers and giving it a light squeeze underneath the table.

"It's good to be back." Will breathed with a sigh of relief.

"You finished up with the filming?" Charlotte asked.

"It took a little longer than we had anticipated. Things kept going wrong and equipment failed to work so we had to get replacements and we needed approval before replacing the equipment. But I got to explore Thailand for the first time, so I suppose that was a plus, even if WIFI and signal is a bit crap out there. So, my apologies that emails, calls, text messages have been limited and my presence on social media has been non-existent." Will replied.

"Your visits home were short." Richard commented.

"I only had a certain amount of time that I could travel to Portsmouth, I saw you three months ago though." Will said defensively.

"And your new lady love?" Anne asked, nudging him in the ribs.

Will sighed and rolled his eyes.

"She was never my girlfriend. I shot her down." Will explained.

"So why was she adding me on Facebook and introducing herself to me as your girlfriend?" Anne quizzed.

"Because she's a nutcase!" Will stated.

Elizabeth said nothing but shifted uncomfortably in her seat, draining the rest of her wine in a large gulp. It was one thing thinking she could slide back in to Fleet Fridays when she had thought it would just be the others. But sitting with Will…she needed some space.

"So, are you back for good now?" Richard asked.

"Yeah. I needed to get back to normal life. Thailand was amazing, I met some wonderful people and I learned a lot. But it wasn't home." Will replied.

"Well it's good to have you back." Charlotte smiled.

"I need another drink." Elizabeth blurted out quickly, rising from her seat and moving her hand out of Will's grasp.

She scooted past Charlotte and walked up to the bar with her empty glass, waiting for the bartender to take her order. Her heart was hammering fast in her chest, she felt like the air was getting thinner and thinner as she tried to take deep breaths. Seconds behind her was Will, standing next to her at the bar; their elbows touching as he folded his arms on the bar next to hers.

 _Just breathe Lizzy._

"It's good to see you, Lizzy." Will said quietly.

"You too." Elizabeth replied, letting out a panicky breath.

She saw out of the corner of her eye that he was frowning slightly, as if confused as to why she was so shocked to see him. Well it was a shock. She hadn't even thought he would turn up tonight, she hadn't even known he was back in the country, she had just assumed he had fallen in love with travelling and being in a different country, learning all these new things and meeting new people. She got it. Experiencing something that Will had experienced could change your whole perspective, making it easy to move on from your old life when you were doing and experiencing something different. And being around him again was difficult for her to handle.

What she had been through…going through that by herself had been confusing, isolating and painful. She had really needed him, and she felt selfish for resenting him not being there with her through it, she felt angry with him for being in a different country and then she felt guilty for feeling angry because she had told him to go in the first place.

"Lizzy…are you alright? You're acting a little weird." Will pointed out.

Looking at him, she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. He looked worried and confused but she couldn't do this here. Not now with the bar being crowded and their friends sat a little way away from them.

"I'm fine." She said, her voice a little high pitched and squeaky.

"You're not fine-"

"I really wish people would stop telling me how I feel. I said I'm fine. I'm fine. So, stop telling me that I'm not fine!" Elizabeth snapped.

The bartender came up to take her drink order and busied himself with preparing it as she pulled the money out to pay for it. Will let out an amused chuckle.

"What?" she hissed.

"You're still defensively stubborn." Will smirked.

God, he was frustrating. Just like he always was when he found something amusing that she found irritating.

She felt her phone vibrate in her bag, pulling it out she unlocked her phone and read the spam text message from her network provider offering her a discount for a pizza takeaway in Fratton. Pressing the lock button, she looked back up at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"My landlord. There's a problem with the plumbing so I've got to get back. Apparently, he's lost his key and needs me to let him and the handyman in and discuss the problem." Elizabeth lied.

She watched as his face fell and nodded his head stiffly.

"We'll have to catch-up soon, properly." Will said softly.

Giving him a small smile, she nodded her head quickly.

"Sure. We'll do that. Soon."

Not giving him the chance to reply, she hurried away from the bar and went back to the table.

"What's up Lizzy?" Charlotte asked.

"Sorry guys, my landlord just texted me. He needs me back at the flat because of a plumbing issue and he's lost his key, so I have to go let him in and discuss the issue with him." She apologised.

Elizabeth felt a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach as she watched her friend's faces fall into that familiar look of disappointment. She hated this. She hated lying to them, but she needed to get out of here and process the fact that Will was back home now. But she didn't know how to be around them and him anymore. What she did know was that because she had crossed that line with Will, her friendships weren't what they used to be. She and Will had agreed not to tell anyone else about their night together until they had spoken thoroughly about everything, she hadn't even told Jane. If she told Jane she knew her sister would gush positively about her and Will and push for double dates and discussions about the future when they weren't ready to think about those things.

"Okay. Sorry you have to go." Anne said quietly, pulling a sad face.

"I know, me too." Elizabeth sighed.

"We'll catch up soon." Charlotte smiled.

Nodding her head, she hugged her friends goodbye before walking out of the pub and pulled out her phone and pressed the Uber app to request a taxi. Just as her request had been confirmed, she heard her sister call her name.

"Lizzy, you can't keep running off like this." Jane stated.

Turning to face her sister, she tried to act like nothing was wrong. That she wasn't anxious and all the pain she had bottled for the past ten months wasn't threatening to come unscrewed and overwhelm her.

"Jane, can you not argue with me right now? I have to get home." Elizabeth said quickly.

"You promised you would stay tonight!" Jane yelled.

"And I'm sorry for the inconvenience Jane. But I have to go-"

"You know what, I'm getting tired of all the excuses. Things never used to be this bad but whatever is going on with you…you aren't dealing with it the right way. What happened Lizzy? Why are you shutting us out? Why have you stopped having a social life?" her sister questioned loudly.

Not wanting to get into anything with her sister here, she shook her head.

"Jane, now is not the right time or the place for you to yell at me." Elizabeth said quietly.

"When is the right time Lizzy?"

She shrugged her shoulders. She couldn't come out and tell her sister everything that had happened. Not now. She needed some space and time to get her head straight.

"I don't know Jane. I wish I could tell you when the right time is here…" Elizabeth said desperately.

But before her sister could yell at her even more on the subject, her Uber car pulled up outside the pub and waited for her to get in.

"I've got to go, Jane. I'll talk to you soon." Elizabeth promised quietly.

But Jane said nothing in reply, she just nodded her head and went back into the pub whilst Elizabeth sighed heavily, that pang of guilt that had formed in the pit of her stomach had somehow now developed a fist and was tugging at her intestines. She felt horrible leaving things with her sister like this. Looking at her Uber driver, she opened the door to the car and climbed in; heading back to the quiet atmosphere of her flat and hopefully the peace she needed to start sorting her head out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Will woke up on Saturday morning asking himself what his life was going to be like now he was back home. He rolled on his back, looking at the digital alarm clock on his bedside table that told him it was nearly nine in the morning. The smell of bacon cooking in the frying pan downstairs made him smile to himself as he noted just how much he had missed his stepmother's cooking. His dad and Alice had been married since his teenage years, having gotten together when Alice had been hired to help look after Georgiana when their mother had died, and he had been a great help to the three of them as they went through the healing process. Without Alice's help, his dad would have struggled to get through that dark journey of grief and it hadn't surprised him when he noticed how the two of them had gotten closer. Will still remembered the day his dad had sat him and his sister down to tell them gently that he was dating Alice, about a year and a half after their mother had died and had assured the two of them in the early days of his relationship with Alice that he loved their mother dearly and nobody would replace her. But he liked Alice, so did Georgie. Alice was devoted to them, she never tried to push their mother's memory out, often encouraging them to tell her stories about their mother and after a while both he and his sister had come to see Alice as a mother-type figure, but Alice had always been adamant that they weren't to call her 'mum'.

As his thoughts drifted from his father's relationship, he thought about his own past relationships and how disastrous they had been. He had never been the type to womanise, having been taught by his parents to be respectful and kind to others. His first girlfriend had been at the age of seventeen when he was studying his A Levels which had ended before he started at the University of Portsmouth. During his university years he had met Eleanor and their relationship had ended after their graduation because she had been expecting a proposal and he hadn't popped the question at the graduation celebration as she had hoped. And between his relationship with Eleanor ending and the present day there had been a few dates which had failed to develop into a relationship and Elizabeth.

Lizzy. Ever since they were kids he had felt closer to her than the others, she was his everything. She teased him without hesitation, listened to him and helped him as best she could whenever he had a problem. She made him laugh so much that his face and sides hurt. They would talk for hours, have dinners out, hang out at her flat watching films, just be there for each other no matter what in general. After his breakup with Eleanor she had sat with him at Drift bar and downed countless shots with him until she was tipsy. She told him she had never liked Eleanor, that his ex-girlfriend was snobby and had lost her chance to be with someone great and that had made him feel better. She had reassured him that he was good enough and would find someone who wouldn't pressure him into things he wasn't ready for. Back in those days, they saw each other every day if they could; if not physically see each other, they always talked in one way or another. And when she graduated from university last year, it became apparent to him that he saw her as more than a friend.

For a long time, he tried to deny his feelings. She was his best friend and it would be confusing if he were to tell her about his feelings. When she had landed a job at Longbourn & Co. with Charles, he found it more difficult to handle his feelings because she started dating a guy named George Wickham who also worked with her and Charles. And because of Wickham, he and Lizzy were arguing a lot more than they used to, often because of something George had done and was often the underlying problem between him and Elizabeth. After eight weeks of dating George, Elizabeth had called him up one evening in tears to say that she had been dumped by George after he had gotten what he wanted. Dropping everything, he had gone over to her flat and held her as she cried through her sadness and hurt, listening to him tell her that she was good enough and they had just sat in her living room watching one of her favourite films: Notting Hill, until she fell asleep against his chest.

Around the time of her breakup with George thirteen months ago he'd been called up and offered a job working abroad as a journalist for the BBC and his first assignment was to film a documentary on life in Thailand as part of an understanding different cultures project. It was an amazing opportunity, it gave him the chance to take a big leap with his career and he got to travel to what had been described to him as a beautiful country. He knew that he could learn a lot from this experience and after consulting his family and friends, he accepted the job offer.

A few weeks later, they had gone out to dinner to celebrate. She had won a huge contract to develop land in Southampton for Longbourn & Co. which had earned her a promotion from an assistant on the first floor to a surveyor position on the second floor of the office building the company were based at. After their dinner they had decided to keep celebrating with a bottle of wine at her flat. After a few glasses were consumed, they were tipsy, giggling and reminiscing about their favourite times from childhood until Elizabeth confided in him how she had to fight hard at her job to show her superiors she was a hard worker. And it made him angry as he listened to how George was spreading rumours around the office about her being frigid and shit in bed as an effort to try and sabotage her landing the contract. Although she tried to keep the tone of her voice amusing and meaningless, he knew that she was hurt that her ex-boyfriend was trying to ruin her professional life.

 _"He's the shit one, Lizzy. It says more about him than it does about you." He assured her._

 _"How does it? My colleagues are now going to speculate if I'm a good lay or not. They're going to make my superiors question my ability to do my job if I'm being gossiped about. I love my job, Will, but I don't want to be at the centre of the gossip pool." Elizabeth sighed heavily._

 _"It says that Wickham is bitter about you doing a better job than him. He's jealous and wants to hurt you because you were the one that landed the contract and promotion instead of him. He wants to tear you down because you're clever, beautiful, dedicated and determined. You're remarkable, Lizzy. I've always thought so."_

 _They shared a look and a minute of silence until their heads were getting closer and closer and her lips pressed against his lightly. When she pulled away and opened her eyes, she looked up at him; hesitant about what was going to happen next until he cupped her cheek and pulled her more closely to him._

 _"Will…" she breathed against his lips._

 _"You don't know how long I've wanted you." Will whispered, looking into her eyes._

 _"You…want me?"_

 _Nodding his head, he captured her lips in a fiery kiss. He poured every ounce of passion he had within him into the kiss, one hand cupping her cheek while the other weaved into her hair and held her head to his as he kissed her; expressing just how much he thought of her as their lips moved together. Elizabeth fell against him, her hands clutching at his collar as they fell back against the sofa._

That night was still pierced into his mind like it had happened yesterday. He still remembered the way her lips felt against his as she kissed him back, he remembered how her skin felt underneath his hands as he explored every inch of it that was exposed to him as they removed the other's clothing. He remembered the sounds of pleasure she made as he kissed her neck, her breasts, furthering their arousals. He still remembered the look in her eyes when he asked her if it was what she wanted, only taking her into her bedroom when she nodded her consent. Will remembered every single second of his night with Elizabeth and the next morning he had woken up feeling conflicted whether he should turn down the job offer or not; until she told him he should take it.

 _"Opportunities like this don't come around this often." Elizabeth stated softly._

 _Twirling a loose wave of her hair through his fingers, he looked at her deeply._

 _"But what about us?" Will asked, "You know how I feel. I want you, Lizzy."_

 _Elizabeth sighed._

 _"I don't know Will. I don't want you to not take this job, I would feel so bad if you didn't. I want you to have this, you always wanted to do something like this with your career. And it's only nine months."_

 _"Did last night change anything for you?"_

 _He watched as she bit her lip nervously until she smiled up at him._

 _"So…I take the job…what happens with us?" Will questioned._

 _"I don't know." Elizabeth sighed._

 _"I'll be back and forth between London and Thailand apparently, so I'll give you the number where you can reach me in London if you can't get me on my mobile and when I'm back properly, we can talk about us taking things further?" Will offered._

 _"What do we do in the meantime?" Elizabeth asked._

 _Will smiled down at her and pressed his lips to hers, groaning his approval as she pulled him closer to deepen the kiss…_

He had tried to keep in touch as much as possible. But due to time differences and the fact that they were filming in poorer parts of Thailand where WIFI and phone signal were practically non-existent he had found it hard to stay in touch as much as he would have liked. When he was in London he would call his family and friends, even having his dad, Alice and Georgiana stay overnight with him in London for a visit before he was due to fly back out to Bangkok but every time he tried to call Elizabeth, his calls would go straight to voicemail. His text messages to inform her that he was in Portsmouth for a certain amount of days went unanswered. And the last email that he got from her four months ago stated very clearly that they were better off as friends.

He stretched his arms above his head and kicked back the covers, putting his feet gently on the carpet as he pulled himself out of bed. Opening his bedroom door, Will headed downstairs as he pulled his dressing gown on and met his dad sitting at the kitchen table.

"Morning son." Reginald Darcy greeted, looking up from the morning paper.

"Morning dad, morning Alice." Will replied, sitting opposite his father.

Alice gave him a pat on the head as she placed a plate of bacon sandwiches on the table, letting the two men help themselves as Georgiana came bursting into the kitchen.

"Morning Georgie, why in such a rush?" Will asked, taking a bite out of a sandwich he'd just picked up.

"Running late. I was supposed to meet Lydia for breakfast half an hour ago before our shifts start at eleven, but my alarm didn't go off." Georgiana replied hurriedly.

Will chuckled as he watched his sister grab a bacon sandwich, shout her goodbyes and slam the front door to a close behind her as she rushed out of the house. It was strange getting used to his sister growing up. It was hard to imagine Georgie as a seventeen-year-old studying for her A Levels and having a part-time job when sometimes he still thought of his sister as that annoying ten-year-old who constantly pestered him.

"Have to say it, she has a better social life than I do." Reginald chuckled.

"Definitely." Will agreed.

"So, what's your plan now that you're home?" Alice asked, taking a seat next to her husband and helping herself to a sandwich.

Honestly? He didn't know what his plans were now that he was home for good. Travelling around Thailand for the past year had been educational and he had scratched the adventure itch he'd had for a long time. Filming the documentary had made him meet new people, learn basic questions and answers in a new language, see and engage in a different culture which was rewarding. But a lot had gone wrong during the months he was out there. Filming equipment had been sabotaged to not work properly, passports had gone missing, phones got broken and whenever they had to fly back to the UK to have meetings about how the documentary was going, their filming schedule had been extended for reasons they weren't allowed to know. And now he was finally home, unsure about his career due to all the mess-ups abroad.

"I'm meeting Charles and Jane for lunch today and I expect I'll hear back next week about my future with the BBC." Will replied.

"Are you going to tell us more about this 'serious girlfriend' who messaged your sister on Facebook?" Reginald questioned.

Ah. Caroline.

He knew it was only a matter of time before her name was mentioned. Caroline Bertram had been one of his colleagues who had worked with him on the documentary and was a completely horrible person.

"She was only ever a colleague, dad. We worked together on the documentary and when we were in Thailand, she made continuous attempts to have more than a working relationship or friendship with me and I turned her down." Will explained.

"So, her getting in touch with your sister and cousins was…?" Alice asked confused.

"I don't know. But I never had any romantic or non-professional involvement with Caroline." Will replied.

"If you say that you were not involved with her beyond a working relationship than your word is good enough for me, son." Reginald stated.

"Thanks dad."

"Did you have a good time last night?" Alice asked.

"Yeah it was nice catching up with them all again. They were all pretty thrilled to have me back but Lizzy-"

He stopped himself from continuing. The way that Elizabeth had been acting last night hurt him a little. As he recalled his brief interaction with her last night, his thoughts drifted back to when he landed back in London three days ago.

 _He was sat in his hotel room, having bought a new phone because his had gotten broken before his flight back to the UK. Sitting on the bed, Will tried to process the news that Jane and Charles had just told him._

 _"What do you mean she's withdrawn?" Will asked._

 _"She's always staying at work when we all finish at five. Lizzy is constantly asking if there are reports she can write up, projections that need to be done. She is taking everyone else's workload and offering to finish it herself." Charles replied._

 _"Not only that Will, she's not socialising with us much anymore. It's been months since she came to a Fleet Friday with the rest of us. She's cancelling plans with us and using poor excuses. She's holed up in her flat during her free time and she's not going around to see dad or Lydia either." Jane stated worriedly._

 _"When did this start happening?" Will asked._

 _"Well she seemed a bit mopey after you left but she was still connecting with us and then about ten months ago she was off sick for two weeks from work. She didn't say what was wrong and just shrugged it off as stress but then when she came back to work she threw herself into working too hard." Charles replied._

 _"She won't tell me if there is something bothering her, and she used to tell me everything! Every time I try and express my concern about her working too much she shuts it down and says she's fine. But she isn't fine, Will. I can't remember the last time I saw her give a genuine, happy smile. She looks like she's bottling something up, but nobody can get through to her." Jane sighed._

 _"Even Thomas and Lydia have tried to talk to her Will. We don't know what to do with her. I don't want to go to higher powers at work with this because she loves working at Longbourn & Co. and the last thing I want is to take away her only coping mechanism." Charles stated. _

_Will let out a long sigh as he processed all the information that Jane and Charles had told him. If Elizabeth's dad and sisters had tried to talk to her and had been unable to get through her built up walls, then something serious must have happened. But he didn't know what. He had emailed her here and then when he'd been able to, but her replies had gotten shorter and shorter instead of the long replies he had gotten from her prior to him going away._

 _"Don't say anything to her yet but I'm coming home tomorrow. Give me a few days to settle back in. Can you try and get her to come to The Fleet on Friday?" Will asked._

 _"I can try." Jane promised._

When he had walked through the crowded bar last night, her look of shock had surprised him. The only people who knew he was coming home were Charles and Jane, the others had been excited to see him. Except Elizabeth. She looked nervous and he suspected that the text message she'd received at the bar wasn't from her landlord, but she had been looking for an excuse to leave.

"Lizzy was there?" Reginald questioned.

Will nodded, "Yeah, it was nice seeing her again." He smiled.

Seeing her again, despite her guard being up, had been the best part of his night. His feelings for her hadn't faded, he missed her so much every day. But from the way she had acted last night, it was clear that Charles and Jane were right: Lizzy wasn't the person she used to be.

"You know she's become a bit of a workaholic over the past year, wanting to work hard and prove herself. Thomas hardly sees her these days, I've told him to relax and let her come to him if something is wrong. But you know Thomas, constantly worrying about his three girls." Reginald commented.

"He's done it all by himself Reg, of course he's going to worry about Jane, Lizzy and Lydia." Alice argued.

"He should be proud of how his girls are turning out. All of them have a strong work ethic and positive attitude. Considering how lazy Fran was before she ran off." Reginald muttered.

"Still, work isn't the only aspect to life." Alice finished.

As Alice and his father moved away from the subject, his thoughts were still on Elizabeth. He wondered what had happened over the past year for her to withdraw from everyone who cared about her. Before he had walked into The Fleet, he had pictured what her reaction would be in his head a hundred times. But he hadn't expected her to be shocked and in a rush to remove herself from the situation. Whatever had happened, it must have been something that was painful to her.

Helping himself to another bacon sandwich, he made a mental note of what to try and do to coax Elizabeth out of her withdrawal.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The weekend had been a quiet one for Elizabeth. On Saturday she had been swapping occasional text messages with Jane and had received one from Will asking if she wanted to go for lunch to which she politely declined and said she already had plans. On Sunday she'd gone for a run along the seafront before heading home to shower, change and then headed out to the supermarket to get her weekly food shopping done. She had also had a friendlier conversation with Jane who had informed her that the long-awaited Bennet-Bingley wedding had been booked for Valentine's day next year and had agreed to meet with her sisters during the week to help Jane with the planning and listing of jobs that needed to be completed before the wedding. She had spent the rest of Sunday evening catching up on her recorded shows on her TiVo before heading to bed.

Monday had proven difficult at avoiding thinking about Will. He had text her a few more times since Saturday, asking if she wanted to get together for lunch or a drink to talk and catch-up. Again, she said she was busy but would look at her diary and let him know when she was free. It was awkward for her, texting him like he was merely someone she had just met instead of her lifelong friend. She hated how things were, but she couldn't talk to anyone about it. His 'girlfriend' (or not as he had said on Friday night) had promised he would call her back but he never had and what had happened…

It wasn't his fault. It wasn't her own what had happened. It couldn't have been prevented. But she had been alone through it all. Losing him had been hard for her. Emails were exchanged, but she found it too painful to talk like they used to after what had happened so his calls and texts went unanswered. Ten months ago, she had become the mess she currently was, finding it hard that the part of Thailand Will was in made him practically unreachable, with rubbish phone signal and WIFI non-existent. It had been hard for her to go from seeing him every day, being closer to him than anyone else to being told he wanted nothing more to do with her romantically, that he wanted to remain friends. She had to give up on the idea that their night together had meant anything to him at all, especially after that nasty woman threatened her.

On Tuesday she woke up to the sound of heavy rain battering against her windows. She groaned when she glanced at her alarm clock to see it was five in the morning, her phone lighting up to alert her to an unread text message.

 _I know you can't sleep through heavy rain, hope you're okay. Will x_

She glanced at the screen, remembering all those other countless times that he would text her in the middle of the night because she'd been woken up by heavy rain. It was just one of those things that they had in common and quite often if they had been woken in the middle of the night because of a heavy rainstorm, they would swap texts or call each other and on occasion, he would come and check that she was alright.

 _I'm fine. Just trying to get back to sleep._

Her phone beeped seconds later.

 _Do you need anything?_

Did she need anything? She needed the rain to stop and go back to sleep before she started work at nine. But seeing as Will couldn't control the weather, she'd have to try and not think about the migraine that would eventually come as she worked herself through the day. And even if there was anything that Will could do, she really wasn't comfortable asking him for a favour right now.

 _No, I'll be fine._

 _Are you sure?_

 _Yeah. Get some sleep._

She placed her phone back in its usual place on the bedside table and listened to the rain battering against her bedroom window. Elizabeth rolled on to her back, staring up at the ceiling, wishing she could shut off her mind lie a light switch. Ever since Will's return, her mind kept replaying her night with Will.

 _"Will…" she whispered breathlessly._

 _Elizabeth could feel his hardened arousal pressed against her thigh until she grinded her hips upwards and heard him growl into her ear. Running her hands down the front of his shirt, she started undoing the buttons as he pushed her dress up her thighs and ran his left hand across the silky skin whilst his other continued to cup her cheek as his lips met hers once again. Boldly, Elizabeth parted her legs and wrapped them around his hips, pulling him down to her so that he was pressed snugly in the place that she needed him. Every kiss they shared, every movement of his pelvis meeting hers, every time his lips moved away from hers and found those sensitive turn-on spots on her neck and chest made a tightness form in the pit of her belly. Will broke away from her lips, looking down at her through heavily desired-filled eyes and stopped his hand just above her knee._

 _"We can stop any time you want." He panted._

 _She shook her head desperately. Being in his arms, his tongue teasing hers, his lips moving over hers like she was his life source and without her he was going to drown, showing her just how much he meant his words to her, made her feel safer than she had with previous lovers. Moving her hands lower, she unbuttoned his trousers and pulled the zip down, placing her hands gently inside to cup his arousal and moaned as she felt him harden even more underneath her touch._

 _"Lizzy…" he moaned huskily._

 _"I don't want to stop." She whispered against his lips._

 _Nodding his understanding, he crushed his mouth to hers and his hand travelled upwards from her knee, his fingers tracing a pattern as they reached her core, slick with arousal as his hands dipped under the waistband…_

Stop! Her mind screamed, and the memories went black.

Elizabeth shook her head as she groaned to herself, knowing it was only a matter of time before more of the night would flash back to her. It was her own fault she and Will had crossed that line, she had initiated the first kiss, she had told him she didn't want to stop. She had wanted it and she had thoroughly enjoyed it. All three times he'd made love to her that night. All three times he constantly asked if she was alright, constantly ensuring that she found everything they did pleasurable. Will knew exactly where to touch her, kiss her, how to make her reach that point of no return before she collapsed into his safe arms. He had told her that he had always thought she was remarkable, he had told her she was beautiful, and he had only dreamed of them taking things further. And for her, she had needed to feel special in the eyes of someone who meant so much to her. Being with Will, she felt so much safer and so much more adored than she had with her previous partners.

But it was her own fault. If she hadn't kissed him after he had said all those nice things, she wouldn't be a mess right now. But she had been in a low place after her relationship with George had exploded. All George had wanted from her was sex and after he had dumped her after their first time together, her confidence had dropped. She was beginning to question if she would ever have a meaningful relationship but after a few weeks she had decided to stop focusing on her breakup with George and pour her energy into landing a huge contract for Longbourn & Co. and it had been hard. In the leadup to landing the contract, George had tried to sabotage her by spreading rumours of their time together around the office, saying to the sleazy men she worked with that she only got the job with the company by spreading her legs. George had even tried to hide relevant paperwork and delete her emails. Until it had backfired. After she had reported her ex-boyfriend to the Human Resource Manager, George had been demoted. And she'd landed the Southampton contract for the company. And hearing Will say those nice things and knowing he meant them, she hadn't been thinking clearly.

And then one Friday afternoon around eight weeks after her night with Will, she'd gone to the hospital with severe cramping in her lower abdomen. She'd had some blood tests done, given a urine sample only to be told she was pregnant. The nurse had taken her down to the Early Pregnancy Unit at the hospital to be scanned and the scan confirmed that she was eight weeks pregnant.

She was pregnant.

With Will's baby.

She didn't even know how until she mentally tracked dates back in her head and realised she had forgotten to get herself a doctor's appointment to get her next twelve-week contraceptive injection. And now she was pregnant. She had only worked at Longbourn & Co. since she had graduated from university in June and it was now November. After being discharged from the hospital with a scan photograph, she had returned home and spent hours researching things she thought she wouldn't have to think about yet. But she was pregnant. The scan, the test results all confirmed the fact that Elizabeth was having a baby.

And she didn't know what to do. To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay she had to have worked in her job for twenty-six weeks prior to falling pregnant otherwise she'd get Maternity Allowance from the government which was a lot less. Her position at Longbourn & Co. would be reduced after she went back to work when her maternity leave ended, and she couldn't afford childcare for the baby when she did go back to work. Then there was the fact that she wasn't even in a relationship with the baby's father. Will had promised her that they would talk properly but eight weeks into his trip, he hadn't had the time to come home for a proper talk about them. What she did know was that because they had promised not to talk to anyone else about their night together, she couldn't tell the others about the baby because she firstly needed to know where Will stood in this situation.

 _"William Darcy's phone. Who is this?"_

 _Looking down at the card with Will's office number on it, Elizabeth took a deep breath before speaking to the woman who had answered Will's phone._

 _"My name is Lizzy, I need to talk to Will, it's urgent." She replied._

 _"I'm afraid he's in a meeting now and he flies back to Bangkok tomorrow. Can I take a message?" the woman informed her._

 _"Can you tell him to call me back, it's urgent." She stated._

 _"Okay. Sorry I didn't catch your name, Lindy was it?" the woman sneered._

 _"No Lizzy. Elizabeth Bennet."_

 _"How do you spell the last name? One N? Two Ts?"_

 _"No. Two Ns, one T."_

 _"Okay, I'll pop a note on his desk to call you back but he's extremely busy with work. Are you a friend of William's?" the woman questioned nosily._

 _"A little more than a friend." Elizabeth stated, silently hoping to herself that her words were true._

 _She heard the woman give a little tut until the phone conversation ended._

The few hours that followed her leaving a message for Will she tried not to think about the complications a child would bring. Hours turned into days until she had a phone call from a foreign phone number, from the same woman she had spoken to the other day. The woman stated clearly that Will wanted nothing more than friendship with her, that they were together now and if she didn't back off, there would be trouble. Elizabeth had tried to insist on hearing all of this from Will directly, but the woman told her to google the name of a man. So, when Elizabeth saw the man's name in the google search and saw he was a very dangerous man, the woman threatened to destroy everything she loved; her career, her friends, her family, Will; if she carried on harassing them. So that was the end of that.

The few days that followed her conversation with that nasty woman that worked with Will, she tried to get her head around the fact she was pregnant. Elizabeth didn't know how she felt about the pregnancy, she didn't know exactly how to be a mother when her own had run off with the man she'd had an affair with when she was seven. All she did know was that her mother supposedly couldn't handle the responsibilities of raising an eight-year-old, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old. So, with her own experience in mind, how could she raise a child on her own? Will had already washed away any possibility of the two of them having that more he had wanted eight weeks ago. She was struggling to grasp the fact that this woman had turned Will into the opposite of the person she had always known, wanting nothing more to do with her in that way. So, she was completely alone, pregnant with her best friend's baby and struggling to get her head around it.

As she had made her mind up to go to Reginald and Alice about the situation with Will and tell them she was having his baby, she had gone to work but had been sent home with the same severe cramping she'd had almost a week ago when she'd found out about the pregnancy. But when she'd gone home to run herself a bath, she'd seen the heavy blood. It wasn't until she had more cramping shortly after that she called the maternity unit at the hospital who sent an ambulance to pick her up and admitted her to hospital. After a while, the midwife confirmed her fear; she was losing her baby.

All the doubts she'd had when she first found out didn't matter now. It wasn't until it had been confirmed she was having a miscarriage that Elizabeth realised that she wanted to be pregnant and have a baby. She would have worked it out, adjusted to the new experience and speak to her boss but it was too late. She vaguely remembered the midwife saying she needed a procedure to 'clear her uterus out' and she'd just nodded and agreed. Then the procedure was done, she was kept in overnight and seen by the doctor the next morning who told her to take some time off work to allow her body to adjust back to normal and to talk to someone about her loss and that had been that.

And nobody was ever told she'd had a miscarriage.

But the pain remained.

Even as she laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the heavy rain battering against her window, Elizabeth felt the pain of losing a child. It had been early, she'd tell herself, most miscarriages ended in the first trimester because there was a complication with the baby, it hadn't even formed into a baby yet, but it still hurt. Elizabeth had gone through it all on her own, unable to tell her sister because she'd basically had a one-night stand with one of her best friends and he was across the world, having a new experience and new adventure with his career with a new girlfriend where he wanted to forget about the two of them crossing that line. She was hurt. She was angry. She wished he would have cared enough to tell her himself that he regretted their night together and she wished he could have called her instead of hearing it from that woman. She was disappointed that she hadn't had the opportunity to tell him he was going to be a dad, but she had lost their baby.

And now he was back in Portsmouth and the pain she had bottled for the past ten months was threatening to become unscrewed. It was a difficult fight trying to keep a lid on her emotions, that was why she had rushed off on Friday night. She knew that if she hadn't left, then she would have said something or done something she couldn't take back. She didn't want to break down and cry about her miscarriage, she didn't want to relive her night with Will and have to tell everyone about it and how that nasty woman he had been with in Thailand had threatened the safety of her friends and family, how that woman had threatened to end her career and put Longbourn & Co. out of business because she knew powerful people who could do that.

Letting out a groan of frustration, she picked up her phone and kicked back the covers. Pushing herself out of bed, she exited her bedroom and switched on the living room light and collapsed on her sofa. She switched on the TV and began flicking through her TiVo recordings and picked to catch up on the several episodes of Coronation Street she had missed because of her long work hours.

Work was a big distraction for her. After taking the two weeks off after the procedure, she found concentrating on work to be her way of coping. It kept her busy, especially after having to work late one evening because the new portfolios that were supposed to be printed out to give to new clients had been misprinted, and the overtime she had to do to correct that mistake didn't give her much time to think about anything else. Work had become a welcome distraction, giving her enough time to tire herself out so that she would collapse straight into bed after eating her dinner and then she'd repeat it day after day after day.

The TV played the episodes until the rain had stopped but by that point it was too late for Elizabeth to go back to bed for some more sleep. After she'd had a shower and dressed for work, her phone beeped with a message from Charlotte.

 _Can you meet for lunch today?_

 _Sorry, me and Charles have a work lunch meeting at 11 today. Everything okay?_

Elizabeth felt a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach as she pulled on her shoes, while work had been a welcome distraction it had meant she had a very little social life since her miscarriage. It wasn't because she felt like her friends wouldn't have helped her through it, she knew they would have but it was difficult being around them when she'd lost Will's baby. Anne and Richard were Will's cousins, they were his family and if she told them what had happened between them and what his 'girlfriend' had been like following her miscarriage, she knew it would cause arguments that she didn't want to deal with. Elizabeth didn't want to put her friend's in that position of being angry with Will and she didn't want Will to have strained relationships with their friends either.

Her phone vibrated against her coffee table.

 _I need to talk to someone. Jane will get gushy and plan a second wedding and Anne will get whingey._

 _What's the matter, Char?_

 _Richard and I met up for a few last night and I may have drunkenly kissed him._

Her eyes widened as she pressed the call button next to Charlotte's name.

"Lizzy, please don't judge me!" Charlotte pleaded into the phone.

"I'm not going to judge you, believe me I'm not. But what do you mean you may have drunkenly kissed Richard?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well we were both at Astoria and we'd already been to Yates' and The Fuzzy Duck at this point and some bloke got nasty after I'd told him for the third time to stop feeling up my arse. Rich defended me, and the bloke tried to punch him and when Richard blocked the punch we hurried out of there and decided to head over to Pryzm." Charlotte began.

"And what happened when you left Astoria?" Elizabeth questioned, riffling through her bag to make sure she had everything she needed.

"We were walking towards Pryzm when he assured me that he didn't think I was any of those things the bloke was calling me. He said he thought I was lovely and me being a little too emotional and too stupid when I get drunk, leaned in and planted one on him!" Charlotte replied, mortified.

"Oh Char!" Elizabeth laughed.

"I know! I was too shocked and embarrassed at what I'd done I literally mumbled about it being late and I should get home and ran to the first taxi I could get into!"

"Have you spoken to Richard?"

"No. I can't ever face him again after what I did last night!"

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Elizabeth assured her.

"What do I do?" Charlotte moaned.

Closing her bag, Elizabeth picked her coat off from the coat rack and pulled it on before pulling her bag over her shoulder and left her flat, locking the front door behind her as she headed for the staircase.

"Just try and get through the day first." Elizabeth suggested.

"Can I come over tonight? I really need some advice." Charlotte pleaded.

Elizabeth bit her lip for a few seconds. She knew she should, one day finishing at five like everyone else wouldn't kill her. And she had been a bit of a crap friend lately.

"Sure. Come around about half five?"

"Thanks Lizzy."

Hanging up the phone, Elizabeth placed it into her coat pocket as she reached the bottom of the staircase. She walked through the lobby and opened the entrance doors; stepping out into the light pour of rain ready to start her day.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thank you to those of you who have reviewed/messaged me so far with your thoughts, I'm glad you all like the rewrite. But I would just like to state that I'm not making any more changes to this story, it's the way I am finally happy with but I appreciate your thoughts on the subject :)

Enjoy chapter four. Chapter five will come next week.

 **Chapter Four**

After dropping Georgiana and Lydia off at their sixth form college, Will ended up driving to the Longbourn & Co. office to see if Charles was free for lunch. He parked up the car and crossed the road, entering the office lobby and saw that Charles and Elizabeth were seconds behind him through the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Charles greeted enthusiastically.

"I have some free time, I wanted to see if you were free for lunch." Will replied.

"Sorry mate, we've had a work lunch. However, I've still got a bit of time left on my break if you want to stick around?" Charles suggested.

"Alright then."

As the three of them headed to the lift, he noted how Elizabeth seemed nervous standing next to him. Charles pressed the call button and the three stood there in silence until the lift doors opened and a look of panic came over his face.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked, holding her arm across the doorway.

"I haven't got the paperwork from our lunch, I think I left it in my car." Charles said.

They watched as Charles turned around and rushed across the lobby and out of the doors until he disappeared out on to the street. Will stepped into the lift, looking expectantly at Elizabeth who remained on the other side with her arm across the doorway.

"What?" Elizabeth asked, her tone sporting a little paranoia.

"Are you stepping into the lift or not?" Will asked.

She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, he was unsure why, and then stepped into the lift next to him as he pressed the third-floor button to where the senior staff offices were located.

"How do you know I'm on the third floor?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Charles mentioned it. Said you'd been promoted again because of all the overtime you've put in over the last year." Will answered.

"Well hard work gets you somewhere." She stated icily.

As the lift travelled up to the first floor, his thoughts were taken over with possible situations which might explain why Elizabeth was keeping herself so busy with work and shutting herself off from everyone. The last email he had received from her had been four months ago under a temporary one because hers had been hacked and the words he had read hadn't exactly made him happy. She had stated that she only wanted to be friends because that was what was best for them both, that she wanted to move on and be happy and it wouldn't work between them. When he had received that email, he had been crushed. He had been respectful of her wish not to discuss it, claiming she didn't want to open a can of worms if they did. And now he was home, wanting to help her but unsure of how to go about it because she was guarded and nervous around him.

The lift jolted, causing Elizabeth to fall into him and him into the metal panelling next to him. On instinct, he held her close to him carefully until the lift suddenly came to a complete stop between the first and second floors of the building. The lights flicked for a few seconds before dying out completely.

"Shit!" Elizabeth cursed loudly, pulling herself out of his grasp and heading over to the panel and pressed the alarm button.

The alarm bell rang inside the lift, the operator informing them that the power was temporarily offline, and they would get them out of the lift as soon as possible. Elizabeth sank to the floor after letting out a scream of frustration, stretching out her legs and her head hitting the mental panelling behind her head. Will sat down opposite her, trying to get comfortable as he hoped they wouldn't be stuck in the lift for too long.

"Try and relax, we'll be out of here soon." Will said softly.

"The last thing I need right now is to be stuck in this lift." Elizabeth grumbled.

He tried to get her gaze but every time their eyes met, she would look away from him.

"Maybe it's a good thing-"

"Yeah because being stuck in a lift is what everyone wants to happen." Elizabeth interrupted sarcastically.

"I just meant that maybe it gives us the opportunity to clear some things up between us. Obviously, you are either angry or upset with me considering that you're avoiding me. So, how about you start?" Will suggested.

He watched her as she studied him, contemplating his suggestion. The way she looked at him and was acting around him was something that he desperately wanted to change. He wanted his best friend back, the beautiful, stubborn, intelligent woman he'd known since they were children and had grown to admire throughout the years. In truth, he still wanted more than friendship with Elizabeth Bennet.

 _I think it's best if we just remain friends rather than pursue something more intimate. We are in different parts of the world and you're going to have so many doors open for you after this. The distance is just too great between us and we can't make it work. It's better that we remain friends and not discuss 'more' in the future. It will open up too much and cause too many complications._

Those words were seared into his memory as if they had been carved there with a sharp knife. That email had been the worst thing he had ever read. He had guessed it was hard for her, being apart and not having talked about the future of their relationship but it had been hard for him as well. If she had asked him not to go to Thailand, he would have turned the job down. But she had wanted him to go so he had. But the desire to be more than her friend remained and had grown even more during their time apart.

"What do you want me to say?" Elizabeth asked.

"You've been quite short with me and avoiding me where you can." Will started.

"So?"

"So? Is that all you can say? We haven't seen each other for a long time and when I come back home you act like you don't want to see me."

"Don't you think you're expecting a little much? You just got home, and you expect everything to be the same as when you left it a year ago?" she scoffed.

"So, you're angry. That's a start. But Lizzy, you told me to go and-"

"I know I told you to go!" Elizabeth interrupted, "Because I knew it was such a good opportunity for you. It was a start of you building a career as a journalist, Will. I didn't want to be the type of person that guilts you into staying when we had just crossed that line."

"I wish I could have been in touch a lot more than I was. But your email replies got shorter and my calls were often sent to voicemail." Will said softly.

"I didn't want to talk to you. You just dropped me as if I meant nothing to you. My email replies got shorter because it hurt too much to carry on like everything was normal, especially when I'm hurt and angry that you didn't even have the guts to tell me yourself that you just wanted to be friends." Elizabeth hissed harshly.

Will frowned as he processed what she'd told him. When had he ever implied to her over the past year that he only wanted to be friends? When it had been her to say that they were better off as friends.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused," Will said, trying to keep his voice calm, "But I've never ever said to you that I wanted nothing more than friendship with you."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"You did."

"I didn't. You told me that we were better off as friends!" Will argued.

"When did I tell you that?" Elizabeth yelled.

"Four months ago. You sent me an email from a temporary account because your usual account had been hacked and you told me that we were better off as friends and we shouldn't talk about more because it would be complicated!" Will shouted.

He watched as she blinked in confusion, her eyes filled with rage.

"I didn't send that email. Your girlfriend called me back after I left a request that you call me with her ten months ago. She told me that you didn't want to be anything more than my friend." Elizabeth muttered angrily.

"What girlfriend?" Will asked, not sure whether to believe it.

"I didn't ask her name. But she's a nasty piece of work! And snobby. And rude." Elizabeth replied bitterly.

Taking note of what she was telling him, there was only one woman who had been with him during his time in Thailand that fitted the snobby and rude description.

Caroline.

"That bitch!" Will muttered under his breath.

"What?" Elizabeth questioned.

"Caroline. When we got back to London last week I had a few messages from my family. It turned out that Caroline had messaged Georgie, Richard and Anne on Facebook introducing herself as my girlfriend and announcing that we were moving in together in London. My dad went mental, shouted down the phone at me at how I should have told the family if I was in a serious relationship. After I got off the phone with my dad, I went to the HR manager for the London office and made a complaint against Caroline. I'm waiting to hear back from them about the issue." Will explained.

"Well, she's definitely a bitch!" Elizabeth agreed bitterly.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded his head. So, Caroline had managed to make them both believe that the other wanted nothing more than friendship? Causing a lot of hurt in the process. But whatever Caroline had said to Elizabeth, it must have been bad for her to ignore his phone calls and only give short and vague email replies.

"What did she say to you?" he asked curiously.

"What does it matter?" Elizabeth sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"Don't keep your guard up. Tell me what she said."

"It's a bit late now-"

"No, it isn't. Lizzy, I need to know. Talk to me." Will pressed.

"Why would I talk to you? Alright we figure out that this crazy bitch pretended to be me to send you a fake email and then told me the same lie she told you. But that doesn't just erase all the hurt and anger I feel, Will. If you really must know, she threatened me. She said that you wanted nothing more than friendship with me because the two of you were in a relationship and making a life together. I tried to insist on hearing if from you but then she got nasty. She told me the name of a thug she's connected to, has a long list of crimes he's been accused of and a few horrible convictions. This thug doesn't have a conscience or a heart from the sound of it. She said if I didn't stop harassing you, she could use her connections to this thug and powerful businessmen to hurt my dad, my sisters, my friends and put Longbourn & Co. out of business. She threatened everything I had left. My loved ones. My career. She threatened their safety. And I couldn't lose everyone else I cared about." Elizabeth shouted.

Will let out a yell of anger, balling his hand into a fist and punching it on the metal panel next to him, not even wincing at the pain he felt running through his knuckles and travel up his arm. He was fuming. He wanted to get up and pull the doors open and get on the first train to London and have it out with Caroline. He wanted her to experience the same kind of hurt that she had caused for him and Elizabeth. He wanted to ruin her life the way she had ruined his relationship with Elizabeth. But right now, he couldn't do anything about it. He punched the panel again, causing Elizabeth to jump out of skin in fright.

"Can you not do that? You'll make the lift fault worse." Elizabeth muttered icily.

"I'm going to ruin her!" Will promised with a growl.

"Do whatever you like."

"Come on, I'm trying here!"

"It's a bit late for that. Why have you come back anyway? You didn't fancy settling down in London? Meet someone new after spending a year with a complete bitch!" Elizabeth retorted.

"She wasn't my girlfriend!" Will shouted.

"Doesn't matter now." she shrugged.

"You say that you didn't want to lose anyone else you cared about? But you're hiding away in your office after business hours or your hiding in your flat, avoiding our friends and your family. I came back because we're worried about you!" Will declared desperately.

"We? Who have you been talking to?" she demanded.

"Charles and Jane got in touch, they told me you've been avoiding everyone." Will informed her.

Her eyes narrowed as she let out a strange tut that sounded like she should have guessed the others had been talking about her. For a few minutes there was nothing but complete silence between the two of them and he took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He could deal with Caroline later.

He got up and moved over to her, sitting himself next to her and bravely took hold of her hand, giving it a light squeeze. She didn't meet his eyes.

"Lizzy, has something happened?" he asked delicately.

Elizabeth tilted her head up at him, her eyes filling with tears as she met his gaze. It made his heart sink as he sensed the pain behind those tears that were so close to falling of their own accord. She let out a shuddered breath just as the lights to the lift came back on. The operator's voice filled the space around them and announced that the lift would be moving to the second floor of the building so they could get out. Pulling her hand out of his, Elizabeth stood up and turned her back to him.

"Lizzy? Talk to me. I'm here-"

"But you weren't!" Elizabeth shouted, her voice breaking as she turned around to face him, "Being here now doesn't help me Will. I needed you ten months ago, and you weren't here!"

"What happened?" Will questioned.

Elizabeth wiped the tears away from her cheeks as the lift started a slow move upwards, her face a little flushed but her vulnerability was gone and her professional face was back.

"I have work to do." Elizabeth stated stubbornly.

The lift came to a slow stop and the doors opened, with Elizabeth stepping out of the lift and towards the stairwell to go up to the third floor. Will let out a frustrated sigh as he exited the lift moments later, seeing the repair men waiting to fix the fault with it. As he headed to the stairwell and slowly climbed the stairs to the third floor to wait for Charles in his office, he concluded that he could understand Elizabeth's feelings because she had been angry and hurt over a lie she had been told but she had definitely been through something in the past year. Something painful, if the look in her eyes was anything to go by. But he just didn't know what had happened and he knew it was going to be hard to get Elizabeth to talk about whatever had happened to her.

ooooo

After her encounter in the lift with Will, she had found it too hard to focus on her work. Although she had answered a few emails and had arranged a call back for a property owner selling land in Emsworth, she had tried to keep that little box of closed emotions about her miscarriage tightly shut but being stuck in a lift with Will had been difficult. He had wanted to talk to her about why she was pushing herself so hard at work instead of reaching out to her family and friends and she knew that he was guessing what had happened to her when she had blurted out that she had needed him ten months ago. It hadn't helped that her interrupted sleep this morning was starting to catch-up with her and at two o'clock the migraine started to kick in. So, she switched off her computer and exited her office, telling her boss she wasn't feeling well and asked if she could go home. Once she had gotten permission from her boss to leave early, she gathered up her things, locked her office door and went home, falling asleep on her sofa.

She woke up at half past five to a loud knocking on her door.

"Lizzy? Lizzy? You home?" Charlotte called from the other side of her front door.

Sitting herself up, she stretched her arms out wide and let out a yawn before walking to the front door to let her friend inside.

"You look knackered. Did you forget I was coming around tonight?" Charlotte asked.

"Sorry Char, I was sent home from work with a migraine and fell asleep." Elizabeth apologised.

"Oh...are you okay?"

Truthfully? She was far from okay. But she couldn't exactly talk to Charlotte about her tension with Will this afternoon. She decided that she was better off pretending that all that was wrong with her was a migraine as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.

"I'll be fine." Elizabeth replied, forcing a smile.

Charlotte returned her smile and held up a bottle of wine.

"I thought we could open it while we talk. Are you in the mood for a takeaway?" Charlotte asked.

It looked like she was going to be having a girl's night in tonight while she tried to help Charlotte talk through her situation with Richard. Thinking about what had occurred between her friends last night made Elizabeth think about her own situation with Will. She couldn't help it. Admittedly her situation with Will was a lot different in the sense of being in a very awkward, unknown place whereas Charlotte and Richard had shared a drunken kiss initiated by Charlotte. There was a chance that Charlotte and Richard could ignore the kiss and carry on as normal, so Elizabeth wasn't sure what she could do to help Charlotte. She wasn't exactly the best person to offer advice in this situation, she had slept with her best friend a year ago which resulted in her having a miscarriage and not talking about it, thus not knowing if their friendship could carry on the way it had before.

"Sure, what were you thinking?" Elizabeth asked.

The two women headed into Elizabeth's kitchen to get a corkscrew and two wine glasses before moving into the living room and sitting on the sofa. Pulling the takeaway menus that she had stashed underneath her coffee table, the two women poured themselves some wine and begun looking through the menus.

"I wouldn't mind ordering a curry if you're up for it." Charlotte suggested.

"I haven't had a curry in ages!" Elizabeth agreed, her stomach rumbling.

"I've heard that Goa do a good curry." Charlotte mused, putting the menus back on the coffee table.

"Is that the new place on Albert Road?" Elizabeth asked.

Charlotte nodded, taking a sip of her wine.

"It's the place that's opened opposite The Vaults. It's a restaurant but they do a takeaway option too."

"The question is, do they deliver?"

"Google it."

Just as Elizabeth got out her phone to Google the restaurant her friend had suggested, there was a knock on her front door. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Charlotte had gotten up to answer it when she heard footsteps enter her flat.

"I tried calling you but your phone died and then I went over to Jane's to see if she had anything I could borrow for my date tomorrow night and she mentioned that you were heading over to Lizzy's-"

Elizabeth looked up and gave Anne a small smile.

"Hi Lizzy, sorry to interrupt but I desperately need to borrow something to wear from Charlotte for a date I've got tomorrow." Anne apologised.

"Another date? You move fast." Charlotte sniggered.

Anne rolled her eyes.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one. We've been talking for a while online and we went for coffee a few weeks ago but then he found out his ex-girlfriend was pregnant and he wanted to give things another try with her-"

"And then he found out the baby wasn't his?" Charlotte guessed.

"Right you are. So, he asked if I wanted to go for dinner because he still liked me, and I said I'd give him one date and see how things go." Anne finished.

"And why can't you go shopping for a new dress?" Charlotte questioned.

"Because I'm on the late shift tonight and will be sleeping most of the day tomorrow. I asked Jane, but all her dresses make me look frumpy. I was hoping you'd let me rifle through yours." Anne answered.

"Alright. I'm off tomorrow so come over and have a look in the afternoon."

"Thanks Char! You're a life saver." Anne said brightly.

"So where is he taking you for dinner?" Elizabeth asked.

"We're only going across the way, Jamie's Italian." Anne replied.

"It's really overpriced there." Charlotte commented, taking a mouthful of her wine as she sat back down.

Elizabeth finished looking through the Google search results and eventually concluded that Goa did not deliver, and takeaway orders had to be collected. Sharing the bad news with Charlotte, both women picked up the menus again until Anne made the one suggestion that Elizabeth wished she hadn't.

"Do you want me to see if Will could pick it up for you two? He owes me a favour." Anne offered.

"It's a bit much to ask of him." Elizabeth said quickly.

"Don't be silly. He won't mind." Anne said brightly.

"Anne don't-"

But it was too late. Anne had already dialled the call button on her phone and was asking Will to pick up an order for her and Charlotte from Goa and from what she could tell, he had agreed to carry out that small favour. When had finished the call, she bade the two of them goodbye and headed out of the flat.

"So, what are you in the mood for?" Charlotte asked, picking up her phone to dial the number for Goa.

Deciding on a chicken tikka masala, Elizabeth pressed her glass to her lips and took a large mouthful of wine; wishing that Will had declined Anne's request.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"When was the last time we did this?" Charlotte asked.

Tucking her legs underneath her bottom, Elizabeth sank down into her sofa as she got more comfortable. She tried to rack her brains, trying to remember the last time she and Charlotte had had a girl's night in together but couldn't pin the exact time.

"I honestly can't remember." Elizabeth replied quietly.

"I think the last time we did this was…about eight weeks ago. We'd ambushed you at work and dragged you back to Jane's for drinks, pizza and a film night. Anne had been seeing that Hector bloke who worked for WightLink." Charlotte mused.

Elizabeth's face fell. Had it really been eight weeks?

"Quite a while ago then." She muttered quietly.

Charlotte placed her glass on the table, reaching for the bottle of wine and began pouring herself another drink. Elizabeth watched as her best friend's face go from the enjoyment of spending time together to a hurt expression. She knew the look of hurt on Charlotte's face well.

"Char-"

"I just don't get it Lizzy," Charlotte interrupted, turning to face her as she put the bottle back in its place, "We used to get together four times a week excluding Friday night at The Fleet. Four times week you'd do something with me or the others and then Friday night we all came together as a group to catchup. We'd have a film night, go bowling or to the cinema, we'd go shopping and out for lunch when we weren't at work. We used to text everyday and send memes to each other to laugh at over Whatsapp. Have I done something to upset you?"

The guilty pang in the pit of her stomach was becoming greater and more familiar to her these days.

"No, you didn't do anything." Elizabeth assured her softly.

"The why haven't you been around as much? Do you know when the last time you did Fleet Fridays with us before Friday night?"

"I think it was-"

"March. Six months ago, that was the last time you came to Friday night catchup. Yeah you call and text but not as much as we're used to. Do you know how much I've missed you? And when I needed someone to talk to about Richard, you were the first person I thought of. You know Jane would start getting excited and gushy and Anne would complain I'm hooking up with her cousin when her own love life is disastrous. I came to you because you wouldn't do either. You would help me figure it out. Unless you're too busy?"

She wasn't surprised that her friend was hurt and mad about her being a lack of a friend. But given everything that had happened with her and Will, thinking he had left her high and dry (even if she knew it wasn't his fault now), and the fact she and Will were friends with the same people (two of which were his cousins) she didn't want to put her friends in an awkward position if she had told them about the miscarriage and his rejection of her. Having a miscarriage, knowing in the moment that her pregnancy was ending that she wanted the baby and that she wanted to experience the joy of pregnancy and being a mother, it was too much for her to handle. And she had to do it all on her own.

How she could she tell them? It wasn't exactly something you could just drop into casual conversation on Fleet Fridays. Work had been her coping mechanism. The doctor who had discharged her from hospital had advised her to seek support and she had chosen not to. If she had came out and told her loved ones she had lost Will's baby and he wanted nothing more to do with her than be her friend, sides would have been chosen, angry words would have been said and couldn't be taken back and the friendships they'd built would have been in tatters. She couldn't do that to them.

"Char, you honestly don't know how sorry and crap I feel for being such a crap friend. And I wish more than anything I could tell you the reasons why. I know I've missed a lot and I miss you all too, so much," Elizabeth replied, her voice starting to break, "But I just…I don't know…"

"You're not the same person you used to be." Charlotte noted.

"I want to be," Elizabeth muttered, "I hate this, Charlotte. I wish I could turn back the clock and stop myself from becoming like this!"

Charlotte's face softened as she wrapped an arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, resting her head on top of hers as Elizabeth placed it on Charlotte's shoulder.

"What happened, Lizzy?" her friend quizzed softly.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling sharply as she tried to calm herself down. She hated that her emotions were threatening to get the better of her and she felt even worse for making tonight about her when Charlotte had come over to talk about her kiss with Richard.

"Tonight, isn't about me," Elizabeth cried, "It's supposed to be me listening to you."

"We can get to me later," Charlotte murmured, "Something isn't right with you and you're clearly losing an inner battle to not talk about it."

"Something happened…a while back…I haven't told anyone about." Elizabeth said quietly, sniffing through a blocked nose as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Alright. Do you want to talk about it?"

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders, feeling her nose getting stuffier the more she cried on her friend's shoulder.

"I don't want to…think about it…but it's all I think about. I can't talk about it…everything would get worse if I did…"

"Lizzy…you weren't…you weren't…raped…were you?" Charlotte asked nervously.

Looking up at her friend, she wiped away her tears and shook her head quickly. The last thing she needed was her friends to think she had been raped or assaulted or anything like that.

"No. It wasn't anything like that. Nothing nonconsensual happened to me." She assured her friend.

"So, whatever happened…this is why you've been avoiding us?" Charlotte asked.

"I couldn't tell anyone. There would be a lot of fallout if I told you. I don't want to risk friendships being ruined." Elizabeth sniffed.

"So, to keep our friendships intact, you'd risk your own?" she asked.

"I know it sounds silly…"

"We don't think it's silly, Lizzy. If you've thought it was serious enough to avoid talking about it then obviously it isn't silly. We just want to help you, but we don't know how." Charlotte said softly.

Elizabeth nodded, not saying anything as she inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to calm down. She hadn't wanted to make this evening about her. Not for one second. But a part of her felt a little better. Not a huge amount, just a little smidgeon. At least she had told someone she had been through something.

That had to be a start…right?

But she wasn't ready to share. She had just found out that Will hadn't gotten that bitch to tell her he wanted to be friends. And now she had to process her thoughts and feelings to not feel angry at him for that part of her pain. It hadn't been his fault. It had been that Caroline woman's.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Charlotte asked.

She shook her head.

"I'm not ready. It's…too painful." Elizabeth sniffed.

"Lizzy, whatever it is, we're here when you're ready to talk about it." Charlotte assured her.

"Thanks. I know I've been crap at being a friend lately-"

"You had your reasons. I'll talk to Jane if you want? Tell her to back off and give you some space?"

"Thanks. I just need to process a few things."

Charlotte nodded her understanding and Elizabeth gave her a grateful smile. At least some of the air had been cleared up between them and she hoped that her friends wouldn't be on her case and give her the time she needed to come to terms with it all.

"So, can we talk about you and Richard yet?" Elizabeth asked, willing to change the subject.

"Are you sure you want to?"

Elizabeth nodded, the last thing she wanted was to make the evening more about her when she wanted to listen to Charlotte's account of the previous night.

"Yeah. Go on."

So, she listened. She listened to her friend tell her about what had happened between her and Richard, how Charlotte felt unsure of what to do and whether there could be more than friendship. She listened when Charlotte told her that Richard had text her during her lunch break, asking to meet up before Friday to talk about it but Charlotte hadn't replied because she was unsure of what to do.

"What would you do, Lizzy?" Charlotte asked.

She knew she wasn't exactly the best person to give Charlotte advice right now. But she knew from her own experience that if she had the chance to do things differently with Will, she would take it. And knowing what she wished she could do, she knew what her advice to Charlotte would be.

"I think you should text Richard back and arrange to meet him. I think you need to talk about it before Friday night. Get things sorted between you and don't let things be awkward, come to a mutual decision you both want. Don't leave it and let things get worse. Tell Richard how you feel and work through it together." Elizabeth replied.

But before the two women could talk anymore on the subject. There was a knock at the door. Charlotte got up to answer it while Elizabeth listened to the exchange of food and money being handed between Will and Charlotte until she heard:

"Lizzy, can I talk to you for a second?"

Her heart began to race in her chest as she placed her wine glass down on the table. After her heated argument with Will earlier, the last person she wanted to see was Will. But she couldn't exactly turn him away, could she? Not with Charlotte here. So, she got up from her seat and padded out into her hallway as Charlotte went into the kitchen to prepare their food on to plates. Elizabeth stepped out of her front door and closed it, willing to listen to what Will had to say but not wanting Charlotte to overhear them.

"Look, earlier was a little tense-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Elizabeth said quickly.

Will's face fell until he cleared his throat and shook his head.

"No. We are going to talk about it. I just found out that the email I've received from you four months ago was sent by some obsessive, manipulative colleague who threatened you. Caroline has kept me from you long enough. I'm hurt and angry with her and I will be dealing with her. But Lizzy, I'm worried about you and we need to talk about everything properly." Will stated.

Elizabeth took a breath as she closed her eyes. She knew that he would insist on talking properly, especially after what had happened in the lift this afternoon. But she didn't want to talk about it when she was about to have dinner with Charlotte. First, she had to get her around what had been said and figure out how she was going to tell him what had happened, he was going to press her until she cracked and told him.

"Fine. But not right now." She sighed.

"Then when Lizzy?"

"I don't know. I'm busy-"

"You aren't. Work is just a distraction that's keeping you from people who love you."

"And I'm coping."

A lie in its self. She was far from coping. But she didn't want to look weak in Will's eyes.

"I don't think you are." Will said quietly, looking at her directly in the eye.

Elizabeth blinked, having an uncomfortable feeling spread throughout her body as she looked away from him. Until she felt him step closer to her, tilting her chin up to meet his stare.

"Lizzy, we need to talk about this." He whispered softly.

The sound of his voice when he whispered softly had always drawn her in. It was like one of those automatic things that was impossible to change. The way his voice sounded, like a soft caress that gave you all the assurance and safety you needed, made her close her eyes and let out a shivery breath as she nodded her agreement.

"Alright. Meet me here on Saturday morning, we can talk then."

He gave her an encouraging smile, one that she didn't return because her nerves were all over the place. Thanking him for the food, she watched as he turned and walked away towards the staircase and slipped back into her flat. What she felt now was anxious, dreading the conversation that the two of them would be having on Saturday.

ooOoo

Will closed his front door, leaning back against it as he exhaled heavily. While Elizabeth had agreed to talk with him on Saturday, it was still an uncertainty of how much she was going to co-operate and talk about everything that had happened over the past year.

"William, is that you?" Alice called from the living room.

Moving from the hallway, he entered the living room to find his dad and Alice sat cuddled on one of the sofas watching the evening news. He sat down on the empty sofa, noting how his father had turned down the volume on the TV to look at him.

"So…have you calmed down from your frustrated ranting from earlier this afternoon?" Reginald asked.

Will shrugged his shoulders. After finishing his meetup with Charles earlier, he had returned home and let out his anger by ranting to his dad and Alice about why things were so bad with Elizabeth. They had listened, as all parents do when their children need someone to let it all out with, and when his rant was over, they had advised him to calm down and think it over. They pointed out that a lot had happened, and he needed to handle everything delicately instead of going in all guns blazing.

"I guess. I've managed to get Elizabeth to agree to talk to me so that's a start." Will sighed heavily.

"What happened between the two of you?" Alice asked.

Will hesitated. He knew that his dad and Alice wouldn't repeat whatever he told them if he asked for it to remain between the three of them. But at the same time, he knew that he would be questioned about his future with Elizabeth as friends or pursuing something more.

"Will? Whatever it is, you can tell us, and we won't judge you." Reginald assured him.

"I know dad. It's just there's a lot of unanswered questions between me and Lizzy that we need to sort out first. She's upset with me and I really want to fix it. But I'm not sure how." Will replied.

"We know how much you care about her. The two of you have been friends for a very long time and I'm sure you both can fix whatever happened between the two of you." Alice said with a small smile.

"That's just it. I don't know if she wants to. What happened between us…I think she feels that it was a mistake and with Caroline scheming, that hasn't helped things." Will said grimly.

"At least both of you know now you were victims of that deceitful woman's scheming." Alice tutted.

"Yeah. But when I dropped the food off to Charlotte and Lizzy, I got the impression that she wanted to be guarded around me. We used to be so close."

He met his father's gaze and for a few seconds they considered each other until his father's eyes gave away that he knew what had occurred between Will and Elizabeth.

"Alice, would you mind sticking the kettle on while I talk with Will?" Reginald asked.

Watching as Alice smiled and got up from the sofa, she exited the room; leaving father and son to talk privately as she closed the living room door behind her.

"What?" Will asked, a little too quickly.

"You and Lizzy…you slept with her, didn't you?" Reginald muttered.

Seeing no point in lying to his father, he nodded his head stiffly.

"It was this time last year, we had been out celebrating her landing a huge contract for Longbourn & Co. and we had gone back to hers with a bottle of wine and we got a bit tipsy. She started talking about how much she loved her job, how her ex-boyfriend was trying to sabotage her success and spread rumours and I hated seeing her like that. I told her I thought she was amazing and then she kissed me." Will said quietly.

"I don't need all the details but I'm guessing you acted on your feelings for her?" Reginald guessed.

Will froze. He had never admitted out loud to his family or friends, other than Elizabeth how much he wanted her, to be with her as more than a friend. And now his father had come out and said that.

"How did you know?"

"I'm getting old son but I'm not going blind," Reginald chuckled, "Out of all the girls, Charlotte, Jane and Lizzy, you were closest to Lizzy. And then there was the constant venting about that ex-boyfriend of hers. I know when the green-eyed monster has bitten."

"Am I really that obvious?" Will asked.

"Only to us. I said to Alice from your secondary school days that I wouldn't be surprised if you and Lizzy ended up together given how close you were. But then after she graduated from university last year and started dating George Wickham, it became more apparent that you had deeper feelings for her." Reginald replied.

Will nodded.

"I know I probably should have done things differently, but she had just kissed me, and she took me by surprise and then she pulled away and I told her she didn't know how long I had waited for it to happen, how much I wanted her. It was impulsive, and we weren't thinking of the long-term consequences at the time. I constantly asked if she wanted it and she said that she did, I asked her constantly if she was alright-"

"I know you did. Your mother and I taught you to treat others with respect and kindness. You don't need to explain your actions to me, son. We all do things without thinking sometimes and from the sound of it, neither of you wanted to stop. I'm not judging you."

Will felt relieved that he could discuss what had happened between him and Lizzy without having hypothetical questions thrown at him and he was glad his dad wasn't passing judgement and he was just listening. It was one of the things he liked about his dad. Before his mother had died, his dad had been a workaholic, coming home after he and Georgie had gone to bed and then his mum had gotten sick. Reginald had changed his whole outlook on life, seeing that family were the most important thing and while work to provide said family with everything they needed, it wasn't everything. So, his dad had put work on the back-burner, working mostly from home to raise Will and Georgiana and he became a devoted dad being there for his children whenever they needed him.

"I just don't know what to do…" Will sighed.

"I wish I could tell you how to handle the situation with Lizzy. But I've never been in that situation, so I wouldn't know what the right advice would be. But what I will suggest is that you handle this delicately. You're angry, you have every right to be because this colleague of yours has stood in the way of you and Lizzy working through things. But getting frustrated with Lizzy will only make things worse." Reginald warned.

"I know…it's just that…it's hard I guess. We don't talk anymore. She can't even be in the same room with me for too long…"

"Well she's definitely changed," Reginald agreed, "I just put it down to her wanting to work hard. She's certainly made herself work hard given her second promotion. Come to think of it…she wanted to speak to me about something important a while back…but she had been sent home ill from work and I think she just forgot…"

As the conversation drifted into other things, Alice came back into the living room with a cup of tea for the three of them. Reginald unmuted the TV and continued to watch the evening news while Will was left to ponder about how to deal with everything he had found out today.

Putting his cup of tea on the coffee table, he got up from his seat and exited the living room, unlocking his phone before flicking through his contact list. Taking a breath, Will pressed the call button next to the contact he needed to talk to.

"Louis? Hello, it's Will Darcy. We need to talk."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Apologies for the shortness of this chapter, I've been unwell this week. I wanted to get something updated this week so I didn't keep you all waiting. As for ANB, the next update will come later this week.

Enjoy.

 **Chapter Six**

The rest of the week had been a little busy for Will. After Elizabeth had agreed to meet with him and talk about things, he had been trying to deal with the Caroline situation. He had spoken to the HR department at the London office, but they were still investigating, and it would require some time before they got back to him about the complaint he had made. He was also waiting for a call back from Louis, knowing that the man was very busy, so it would be a few days before he heard back from him.

He'd also met up with Richard for lunch on Thursday, given it was his cousin's day off. While Richard had graduated with a photography degree two years ago, his cousin had yet to establish a career as a photographer. He knew how hard it was for some. Getting a degree was one thing, but most found it difficult to establish a career in their chosen degree field. Charles had been lucky, his father had a connection with the owner at Longbourn & Co. and had managed to get his friend hired there. Just like Elizabeth had been lucky to land an interview because she had a connection through Charles. Jane and Anne worked in common industries where jobs were always going, teaching and adult nursing. But Richard had struggled to get into the photography field, most photographers would only take on experienced candidates for their small businesses and Richard only had little. So, his cousin currently worked in retail, an assistant manager for a Sports shop in the city centre.

During his lunch with Richard, he'd found out that his cousin wanted his advice. It turned out that Richard was due to meet Charlotte for dinner that evening and the two had shared a drunken kiss on Monday evening and both were apparently unsure of what to do about it. So, Will listened to how Richard had felt surprised by Charlotte kissing him and confused when she had rushed off home and how he didn't know if he wanted to be more than her friend or if it was just a drunken mistake that didn't mean anything. Knowing his own situation with Lizzy was a mess, he told Richard to just go with his gut and talk to Charlotte, deep down he knew what the right thing to do was.

It was Friday night. The sound of a door swing squeakily closed behind him as he entered The Fleet was replaced with the sound of busy conversation. The sound of busy conversation that he had missed during his time in Thailand. He smiled to himself as he saw the crowded pub, the sound of laughter, stories being exchanged, this was what he had missed during his time away. Especially the times when it had been him and his friends sharing the laughter and the stories together. His eyes scanned the room, walking over to the usual table that he and his friends had claimed long ago as theirs where he saw Charles sitting there waiting for him, two pints of beer sat on the table.

"You alright?" Will greeted, pulling out a chair.

"Yeah, I got you a pint." Charles replied, nodding to the other pint of beer.

"Cheers."

Sitting opposite his best friend as he shed his jacket and placed it on the back of his chair, Will noted that Charles didn't seem his usual, merry self. His friend seemed tired and troubled, as if he had something on his mind.

"Alright, let's get this out the way before the others get here. Have you and Jane had an argument?" Will asked, taking a sip of his beer.

"What makes you think that?" Charles questioned, a little too loudly and defensively.

"Charles, I've known you since we were old enough to stand. I also know the look you get on your face when things are a little tense between you and Jane." Will reminded him.

Charles sighed heavily, taking a large mouthful of his beer before looking Will directly in the eye.

"We had a pregnancy scare. She was late and told me she thought she was pregnant. I told her that I felt we weren't ready for kids yet, especially as we're planning a wedding. And she freaked out." His friend muttered.

Will pulled a sympathetic face. Whilst he had never experienced a pregnancy scare in any of his previous relationships, he could guess that his friend was a little confused about the situation.

"And is she pregnant?"

"The test was negative. She's going to retest again in a week if she's still late."

"And if the next one is positive?" Will questioned.

"I don't know, Will," Charles said, his tone unsure, "I'm twenty-four, we're still renting. We're still planning a wedding. I don't want to plan for a kid on top. And she's only been teaching for two years, I thought we were going to wait a few years before the kid conversation came up."

"Well it might be happening now. If she's pregnant, it must be early on. I won't pretend to know much about pregnancy but one thing I grasped when mum was pregnant with Georgie was that tests can say negative very early on in the pregnancy, it has something to do with hormones." Will pointed out.

"I know. I just don't know how I'm going to be a dad, Will, if she is pregnant. I don't have any siblings and I don't have any experience with babies either."

"You and Jane will work it out together. Does anyone else know?"

"No-one. Jane was going to talk to Lizzy, but I don't know if she has." Charles sighed.

"You're not talking to Jane?" Will questioned.

"Well…we talk…about work…about bills that are due this week…usual...couple stuff." Charles murmured.

Will raised an eyebrow, surprised that Charles hadn't been brave enough to take the first step of apology towards his other half.

"Come on mate, I know you've got doubts over pregnancy, but you don't actually know for sure if she's pregnant or not. She needs you to be there for her."

"Well if she is pregnant she's no more than about five weeks…I don't know Will…a part of me is just scared of the uncertainty of having a kid…it's so early. If she takes a test next week and it turns out to be positive, there's still risks that come in early pregnancy. So many women miscarry in the first few weeks…"

As he listened to his friend share his fears about his fiancée being pregnant, Will's mind was rushing around trying to form a theory…

 _"Will…"_

 _"You don't know how long I've wanted you."_

 _"You…want me?"_

 _"We can stop any time you want." "Lizzy…"_

 _"I don't want to stop."_

 _"Lizzy? Talk to me. I'm here-"_

 _"But you weren't! Being here now doesn't help me Will. I needed you ten months ago, and you weren't here!"_

 _"I just put it down to her wanting to work hard. She's certainly made herself work hard given her second promotion. Come to think of it…she wanted to speak to me about something important a while back…but she had been sent home ill from work and I think she just forgot…"_

 _"When did this start happening?"_

 _"Well she seemed a bit mopey after you left but she was still connecting with us and then about ten months ago she was off sick for two weeks from work. She didn't say what was wrong and just shrugged it off as stress but then when she came back to work she threw herself into working too hard."_

They had slept together a year ago. She had been sent home from work for two weeks ten months ago. She had told him that she had needed him ten months ago, it was around that time that Caroline had threatened her, and his father had had a request that she talk to him about something.

Slept together a year ago.

Sent home from work because she was ill.

Eight weeks after he'd left for a job filming a documentary.

The look on her face when they'd been stuck in the lift, the pain in her eyes that indicated she had experienced something that hurt her.

The hurt and anger she felt at having to go through something alone. All the overtime she pulled at work and was avoiding their friends. Avoiding him.

His heart was racing in his chest as his thoughts came to the conclusion as to why Elizabeth was avoiding him, what she had been through.

But before he could do anything about it, he and Charles were joined at the table by Charlotte, Richard and Anne.

"No Lizzy or Jane?" Anne asked.

"Lizzy went home sick today, she's been suffering with migraines all week due to the rain keeping her up. And Jane was spending the evening with Thomas and Lydia." Charles replied.

"That's too bad for us. I suppose it's nice that she gets some family time though." Charlotte commented.

Richard, Anne and Charlotte dumped their jackets and bags on the table before heading up to the bar to order themselves a drink while Will and Charles remained seated. Will's thoughts continued to put pieces together, hoping he wasn't wrong.

But how was he supposed to handle it now?

Yeah, Elizabeth had agreed to meet him tomorrow morning to talk. But everything was starting to come together.

How would she feel if he turned up at her flat, wanting to talk about his suspicions tonight instead of in the morning?

There was a very high chance she would slam the door in his face, considering the awkwardness between them at present.

But he couldn't help himself. He needed to clear the air with her now. Draining the rest of his pint, he placed the glass on the table and earned a look of surprise from Charles.

"You in a hurry or something?" Charles asked.

Will nodded, pulling on his jacket.

"Sorry mate. Something I need to clear up. Talk to Jane, get things sorted between you alright? Just try and be there for her and work it out together." He advised.

"Cheers, I'll see you later."

"Bye Charles."

Tucking his chair underneath the table as he stood, Will gave a quick goodbye wave to the others as he left the pub.

ooOoo

The rest of the week had been horrid. The rain hadn't eased up, it was almost like if the weather had its own ability to make choices it was unsure of whether to stay as a light rain or a heavy, torrential downpour. The weather had been switching between light showers and a heavy downpour, causing Elizabeth to have not as much sleep as she would have liked. Sadly, this also meant a constant migraine that she knew she could only kill with uninterrupted sleep.

It was Friday night yet again, an entire week since she'd bolted from The Fleet. And in that week, she'd had her sister constantly on her case about her avoidance of life, had gotten stuck in a lift with Will and found out the truth behind the whole Caroline phone call situation, had broken down on Charlotte and nearly revealed the entire miscarriage and doing-it-alone situation and then had agreed to talk to Will about what was happening. It had been a busy week.

Elizabeth knew the others would be gathering at The Fleet for another Friday night catchup, but she just wasn't in the mood for it. She hadn't made it through to lunch at work when Charles had knocked on her office door with orders from their boss to go home. And after having a nap on the sofa for three hours, she'd decided to catchup on her recorded shows and curl up on the sofa under a blanket with the light switched off, at least the bright lights in her flat wouldn't give her more of a migraine.

The television played the latest episode of a TV show that she enjoyed watching but she wasn't really paying attention. She was preoccupied with thoughts on how she was going to tell Will that she had lost their baby. It was something that she knew she had to tell him, especially as she had told Charlotte she had been through something painful, it would only be a matter of time before Charlotte confided in the others. Was their meeting tomorrow going to be as awkward as she thought it would be? She didn't know. What she did know was that she felt anxious about telling Will that she had lost their baby.

Elizabeth wondered how the conversation would go. She imagined that he would want to talk about their night together, the issue with Caroline, why things were so awkward between them. She knew that he would want to discuss everything that had happened over the past year and she knew that she couldn't keep the truth from him any longer. She just wished that she would have the courage to talk it all through.

The familiar sound of her stomach rumbling made her realise that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. Sitting up on her sofa, she reached for her phone that lay on the coffee table, opening the internet browser and began to type in the web address to order a pizza delivery for dinner. Just as she began to flick through the pizza choice options, there was a light knock on her front door.

Who would be knocking on her door at this time of the evening?

ooOoo

The entire walk from The Fleet to Gunwharf Quays only took him eight minutes. A walk that he had made quickly and was trying to catch his breath as he walked down the corridor to Elizabeth's front door. He took a breath, wishing that his racing heart would slow down. A part of him knew that he should have waited until the morning, given them both time to prepare for the in-depth conversation they had promised to have with each other. But he couldn't wait. If he went home, he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Will raised his closed fist and knocked gently on the front door before lowering it to his side. He could hear the low sound of the television playing in her living room and then the sound of her footsteps padding down the hallway until he heard the lock turning on the other side.

The door was pulled open, revealing Elizabeth on the other side, looking up at him in surprise.

"Will? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Putting on a reassuring smile, he looked her deeply in the eyes.

"We need to talk."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** So here's the chapter you've been waiting for. As for Chapter Eight, this will be updated in a fortnight because of Christmas coming up and I want to focus on posting Winter Surprises over the Christmas period.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter Seven**

"We need to talk."

Elizabeth felt stunned that he had turned up on her doorstep, looking at her so warmly but sympathetically, without an ounce of awkwardness about him.

"What about?" she asked.

"Can I come in?" Will requested, "I don't really want to do this on your doorstep."

She hesitated for a few seconds before stepping to one side to allow him entry. Closing the door behind him, she followed him into the living room and stood awkwardly in the doorway, her TV show still playing in the background.

"What's up?" Elizabeth asked, folding her arms across her chest nervously.

He walked over to her, somewhat hesitantly before he cupped her cheek with one of his hands, holding her gaze as he looked at her. Her heart hammered in her chest, wondering just when he was going to tell her why he had shown up tonight instead of tomorrow morning.

"I think I know why you've been avoiding everyone. Avoiding me. Throwing yourself into work as a way of coping." Will replied.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?"

She watched as he took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. As she held his gaze, she instantly felt herself beginning to panic as the look in his eyes told her that he knew.

"Eight weeks after I left for Thailand, you found out you were pregnant…didn't you?"

Hearing him say those words…she felt her eyes well up as she stepped back from him. How could he have worked it out? She knew that he knew she had gone through something painful, but she hadn't guessed that he would work it out this quickly. And now she didn't have to decide on how she was going to tell him she had lost their baby, he was telling her that he knew right now.

"How…did you…"

"Charles mentioned that you were off work sick for two weeks about ten months ago. You said that I wasn't here when you needed me ten months ago. Around that time, you also wanted to talk to my dad about something important. When you do the maths, we slept together this time last year and your avoidance and throwing yourself into work happened ten months ago."

Nodding her head, she turned away from him, wiping her eyes. He knew. It wasn't a secret anymore and he was here. It might not have been his fault, but she had still gone through a miscarriage by herself.

"What happened, Lizzy? Something else happened didn't it?" Will asked delicately.

She felt her eyes begin to well up again. There was no hiding it anymore. There was no bottling up the pain she wanted to keep firmly closed. He was offering her a chance to get it all out in the open and heal and she knew she had to take it. She wanted her best friend back, more than anything, she wanted to move forward and stop being the way she currently was.

"I tried to call you...eight weeks after you left…that woman…said she'd leave you…a message…she lied…" Elizabeth cried.

Will made a soothing shushing sound as he pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest. For the first time in a week, Elizabeth didn't push him away. She let the tears fall as she sobbed into his chest, letting out the pain she had tried to bottle up over the past ten months.

"What happened to the baby?" Will whispered.

She didn't look up at him, she needed to feel safe and the only place she felt safe right now was in his arms.

"After that woman called, threatening me…I thought about going to your dad…to tell him I was pregnant…to get him to talk to you…but I was sent home…cramping pains…and when I got home…I saw the blood…I lost the baby…" Elizabeth sobbed.

Without letting go of his hold on her, he walked the two of them back to the sofa, sitting them both down as he continued to hold her against him. And she continued to cry. When she looked up at him, through wet and puffy eyes, she saw his stiffened jaw and angry expression, causing her to push herself away from him.

"There's nothing I could have done!" Elizabeth cried, "It was early…they couldn't tell me why…but I had to sign…agree for them to flush it all out…but I wanted the baby…and I only knew when it was gone that I wanted it…"

She saw him frown at her in confusion.

"Wait…you think…you think I'm blaming you for the miscarriage?" Will asked, shocked.

Elizabeth nodded her head, sniffing as she wiped her eyes.

"You look angry." She muttered.

He seemed to realise his expression and his face softened as he scooted up closer to her, taking both her hands in his.

"I'm not angry with you, Lizzy. I wish, more than anything, I could have been there for you through it all. I'm angry with myself for taking that job, I should have stayed with you. Worked things out with you. You were pregnant with my baby, I would have supported you through it. I'm angry with Caroline for deceiving us both, preventing me from being with you. I'm angry that you were made to think that I didn't care enough for you to help you through losing our child. I'm not angry that you lost the baby. I'm upset, of course I am. To know I could have been a father and not even know until ten months after you had the miscarriage…" Will assured her.

She didn't know what it was. It could have been him being there for her now, it could have been him telling her that he would have supported her, that he did care about her, that he wasn't angry with her, that he blamed Caroline for the entire thing…but she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly; finally letting someone in.

Her walls no longer needed to be kept so high. But among the feelings of grief, anger and confusion, she felt relieved.

Maybe she didn't have to have work as her coping mechanism anymore. Maybe she could slowly get her life back.

"I'm here now, Lizzy," Will whispered in her ear, his arms enclosing around her waist, "I'm here now. You're not alone anymore."

A fresh batch of tears fell from her eyes. But for the first time in ten months, she didn't try and stop them from falling. She didn't know how long she was crying for, she didn't care. But Elizabeth just held tightly on to Will, hoping that they could get back what they once had. She needed her best friend back and now that he knew she had lost their baby, maybe they could help each other through it.

ooOoo

It had been hours.

A part of him felt glad that she hadn't pushed him away, that she had been willing enough to open up to him and he had seen the full extent of her pain. It had been a long ten months for Lizzy and now he completely understood her confusion and anger when he had arrived back a week ago. Why she had been so keen to avoid him. She had been upset that he had left but acknowledged that she wanted him to have the opportunity to start a career with the BBC. But then having to find out she was having his baby and have Caroline threaten her, lie to her and leave her to go through the miscarriage by herself…that wasn't something he could ever forgive.

Caroline had pretended to be Elizabeth and send that fake email to him. On top of all the things she had done to Lizzy…he wouldn't put anything past that vile woman.

Will looked down at the woman who had fallen asleep against him. They had both just laid down on the sofa, his arms wrapped around her securely as she cried into him, letting out all the pain she felt until she succumbed to exhaustion and had fallen asleep on him. Even in all her tiredness and pain, she still looked beautiful.

There was still a lot they had to talk about. They hadn't even covered why she hadn't told anyone about the miscarriage, why work was her way of coping with it all, and the big one: where they stood with each other. But he knew that they had to give it some time. She had only just confirmed his suspicions that she had been pregnant ten months ago, the last thing he wanted to do was rush her or pressure her into 'what if' scenarios.

What he had to do now was be there for her, help her grieve and deal with everything properly and be her friend. When she was feeling up to it, he would approach the subject of them delicately. But only when she was ready.

Aside from helping Elizabeth, he had someone else to deal with.

Caroline.

In his opinion, his complaint against her to HR on the grounds of harassment weren't going to be the only thing she would be facing once he was through with her. That horrible bitch had prevented him from even knowing he could have been a father, let alone that Elizabeth had lost their baby. He felt disgusted. With Caroline for creating such a scheme and with himself for even meeting Caroline Bertram in the first place.

He felt his phone vibrate in his jeans pocket. Pulling it out, he smiled to himself wickedly as he saw the text he had been waiting for.

 _William, my apologies for the shortness of our phone call earlier this week. I am in London on Monday if you would like to come to the office for a meeting with me at 11am? Louis._

He tapped the empty text screen and began to type his reply one handedly.

 _That's okay, Louis. Monday at 11 is perfect._

 _May I inquire as to what the meeting is about? Louis._

 _Too complicated to explain over a text, face to face is more vital._

 _See you on Monday, m'boy. Louis._

Well, at least he didn't have to wait much longer to request a meeting with Louis.

His thoughts on how to handle Caroline were pushed out of his head as felt Elizabeth shift against him, opening her eyes and looked up at him.

"Hey." Will whispered softly.

"Sorry…I fell asleep on you…" she yawned.

"Nothing I haven't seen before. You've fallen asleep on me many times." Will replied with a small smile.

She returned his smile for a brief second before she sighed heavily. He kept his arms around her, wanting her to know that he wasn't going anywhere.

"So…" Elizabeth started.

"Yeah…"

They both took a deep breath at the same time.

"You really aren't angry with me?" Elizabeth asked.

Will shook his head. He knew that miscarriages were a common thing, ending a lot of pregnancies. He wouldn't pretend to be an expert, he only knew the basics when it came to women carrying babies. But he knew that miscarriages were common. As much as his parents had tried to hide it from him, he knew his mother had suffered two before she had fallen pregnant with Georgiana.

"I could never be angry with you about this. It wasn't your fault. And I know this will sounds horrible but-"

"It's just one of those things."

Will looked down at her, surprised she had finished his sentence.

"The doctor who discharged me after the procedure said it happens a lot in the first twelve weeks, it's a common thing, they couldn't tell me why it happened, it was just one of those things. Still makes me feel like crap though." Elizabeth muttered.

"You're allowed to feel crap. Don't feel like you aren't allowed to grieve." Will stated.

"I tried not to. I thought by keeping it bottled…it might make it so…I don't know…"

"Lizzy, why have you been avoiding everyone, why didn't you tell the others about the baby?" he asked.

She took another deep breath before answering.

"We agreed not to tell the others…about us. In my point of view…you had left me high and dry, wanting nothing more to do with me than be a friend. If I told the others…it would have…complicated things between the group." Elizabeth answered quietly.

"Complicated things?" Will asked.

"Anne and Richard are your family, Jane is mine. We're all close, Will. If I told them…you didn't have the guts to tell me that you regretted our night and I was pregnant with your baby…Anne and Richard would have backed you because you're their cousin. Jane would have sided with me as my sister. Charles and Charlotte would have been torn between two sides. I didn't want to risk anyone's relationship." Elizabeth explained.

"So that's why you kept quiet? Suffered all by yourself?"

She nodded her head against his chest.

"I couldn't do that…tell everyone and make them feel like they had to choose sides. I knew they would have helped me through it…but things wouldn't have been the same. I didn't want to end the tradition."

Will kissed her forehead lightly, knowing that he probably shouldn't but he couldn't help himself. When she had been crying against him, he had wanted to kiss away all her tears, but he had controlled himself, wanting her to feel that she could tell him anything and that he was there.

"And working yourself crazy?" he questioned.

"It was a distraction, kept me busy." Elizabeth answered.

"Busy?"

"From thinking about losing the baby, thinking about you."

Now he understood. She selflessly wanted to prevent any damage that would be caused if she had gone to the group about her miscarriage when she had been under the impression he had gotten Caroline to call her. Of course, it had all been a lie, but at the time of the miscarriage, she hadn't known that. She had been hurt, confused, angry where work became her way of coping with it all. Keeping herself busy to keep from thinking on losing the baby and losing him, he didn't think he could have done that if the roles were reversed.

"Lizzy, I'm so sorry." Will whispered.

He felt some tears fall down his cheek. He couldn't remember the last time he cried, but learning that he could have been a father, that Lizzy had to go through it all by herself…it tore him up inside. A part of him felt like he had failed her, even if he hadn't known about it until now. Elizabeth looked up at him, her hand stroking his cheek softly as she wiped away the tears.

"Why are you sorry?" she asked quietly.

"You lost our baby, you've had to do it by yourself. For a while I was an expectant father, even if I didn't know it and we've been robbed of that chance. The miscarriage couldn't have been prevented, I get that, it's nobody's fault, but I wasn't there for you through it because of that bitch!" He replied.

"Don't talk about her. Not right now." Elizabeth pleaded.

He nodded his agreement, not wanting to ruin things between them tonight with discussions of Caroline. They shared a long few moments of silence where they just looked at each other, wiping away tears and tucking a strand of hair behind Elizabeth's ear until she looked at him curiously.

"What is it?"

"Would you…have wanted it…if I hadn't lost it…"

Will felt his heart beating faster in his chest. It was something he had been thinking about since he had worked it out from his conversation with Charles. It was a hypothetical question and he couldn't change the fact that she'd lost their baby but deep down, he had always known he had wanted children one day. And if she hadn't lost the baby, he'd be a dad right now. And he'd be happy. He'd be with her.

"Yes." He assured her.

He saw her relax against him, seeming more at ease now that her secret was out in the open. Will smiled slightly as he heard her stomach growling, sitting them both up but keeping his arm wrapped around her securely.

"When was the last time you ate?" Will asked.

Elizabeth bit her lip as she looked up at him.

"I haven't even had lunch yet. I was going to order a pizza…I guess I forgot as you came here…" she trailed off.

"What pizza were you going to order?" Will asked.

"BBQ chicken, why?"

Will opened the internet browser on his phone, typing in the web address to a local pizza delivery company and ordered a large BBQ chicken pizza for the two of them to share, knowing Elizabeth could only ever manage half a medium and saved the rest for the following day when they used to order pizza together.

ooOoo

While the night hadn't exactly been how she had imagined spending it. Crying repeatedly as she relived through the experience of her miscarriage to Will, having him hold her and soothe her, letting her fall asleep on him before she had woken up and talked some more with him. And now they were curled up together on her sofa, bellies full of pizza which still had a few uneaten slices left in the box, watching old Family Guy episodes on one of the TV channels. It was late, the sound of distant music from Tiger Tiger could be heard and the sound of several loud and tipsy students walked outside to get to the marina. But she was able to tune it out. All she could focus on was how relieved she felt that Will knew about the miscarriage.

She couldn't help the large yawn that escaped her mouth, her eyes watering from how exhausted she felt.

Will looked down at her, letting out a yawn himself.

"It's late and you've not slept properly all week." He pointed out.

Elizabeth nodded lazily.

"I know." She sighed.

"Let's get you to bed." Will said, picking up the TV remote and switching it off.

The next thing Elizabeth knew, she was being gently pulled to her feet, the blanket that had been wrapped over their laps falling to the floor. Will grabbed his jacket, hanging it over his arm as he walked her to her bedroom door. Elizabeth felt her heart race as she felt him kiss the top of her head, something which he had only ever done when she was at a low point and she could only ever remember twice: when her grandfather died when she was nineteen and when George had dumped her, and she felt so stupid for letting herself open up to someone. It was a gesture that meant he cared, that he was there and that everything would be alright.

Just as he whispered goodnight to her, she felt herself unable to stop pulling on his arm to prevent him from leaving.

"What is it?" Will asked.

"Will you stay? I don't want to be on my own." Elizabeth pleaded.

He didn't even hesitate, just quickly nodded his head before opening the door to her spare bedroom.

"I'll be here as long as you need me." He promised.

Sharing a small but watery smile, the two bade each other goodnight and disappeared into the separate bedrooms. As Elizabeth changed into some pyjamas, she let out a relaxed sigh. While she still felt the pain, she felt better; and she hoped things would only get better from here. It would take some time, some work, but Will had promised she wasn't alone anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Elizabeth woke up on Saturday morning with that bunged up feeling in her head, except it wasn't from the lack of sleep and constant migraine she'd been having all week. It was from the amount of crying she had spent doing yesterday evening when Will had come to tell her he knew that she had been pregnant ten months ago. And now, she felt like she wasn't alone anymore.

As she stretched her arms over her head, she rolled on to her side and was greeted by a lazy smile.

"Morning." Will said warmly.

She couldn't help but smile to herself as she noted that Will had kept his promise to stay the night, remembering how she had been tossing and turning during the night trying to get comfortable, but then he had come into her bedroom upon hearing her tossing and turning. So he'd held her until she had fallen asleep.

"Morning." Elizabeth replied.

"How did you sleep?" Will asked.

"Alright I guess. You?"

"Yeah I slept well. Sorry for invading your bedroom, I guess I fell asleep not long after you did."

"It's okay, I'm glad you stayed with me." Elizabeth said quietly.

It wasn't something that should be strange to either of them, there had been plenty of times in the past where they'd been on a night out and he had crashed in her spare room because they'd been too drunk to call a taxi and hers was the closest place if they'd been out to Tiger Tiger. But having him hold her last night, it had been a comfort that they both had needed. And while their relationship was still uncertain, for now she was grateful that he was there for her and maybe, sometime in the future, she and Will could talk about things properly and pursue something more than friendship.

"I was wondering if you wanted some breakfast?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I am a little hungry." Elizabeth replied.

Will kicked back the covers, still wearing the clothes he had been wearing last night and both placed their feet on the floor and hauled themselves out of the bed. Elizabeth followed him into the kitchen where he began to pull out two bowls and spoons while she pulled out the open box of cornflakes from the cupboard and the milk from her fridge. As she walked over to where Will stood with the bowls, she attempted to hand him the box of cereal, their hands touched. Their eyes met and for a moment, nothing else mattered. He took the box of cereal from her, putting it on the side before entwining his fingers between hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he held it. His free hand cupped her cheek, his thumb moving over the soft skin lightly, a gesture which he had done a thousand or so times over the years, one that she took to mean she had him, he was always there for are, as friends are. But now, she was unsure. The way he looked at her, the way he had held her last night as she cried, how he had held her during the night and had fallen asleep with her, the way he had looked at her when she had initiated the first move a year ago…was it more than just friendship? He had confessed to her that night that she didn't know how long he had wanted things to become more between them, how much he had wanted her…all he knew was that her head was scrambled. She had finally told him about the miscarriage and they still had a lot to talk about, but she had all the time in the world now that he was back home.

"Thank you, for everything you did for me last night." She muttered.

"There's no need to thank me, I wanted to. You need a little TLC and I want to make sure you're alright," Will murmured, "I'll stay as long as you need."

"I don't want to be a bother-"

"You're not."

"You already stayed the night." Elizabeth reminded him.

"I know but don't feel like you're asking too much, you haven't asked for anything." Will repleid softly.

She looked up into his eyes, the warmth still there the way it always had been whenever he looked at her, making her heart skip a beat and a fluttering form in her stomach.

"I appreciate it, thank you." Elizabeth said gratefully, giving his hand a light squeeze.

The two of them let the other's hand go, with Elizabeth picking up the bowls while Will picked up the milk and cereal, with both of them walking into the living room and sitting on the sofa. They poured themselves a bowl of cereal with her asking Will to tell her about his time in Thailand. So, she listened as Will told her how he had met some fascinating people, how beautiful the parts of Thailand that he visited were, how much he had missed being home, how things kept going wrong with all the equipment, passports going missing, belongings being stolen.

"It sounds like you had an…eventful…time there." Elizabeth mused.

"It certainly was," Will agreed, "But because things kept going wrong, we had to stay out there for an extra three months to film the parts we had missed because the schedule hadn't been followed."

"So, what happens now? Are you still working for the BBC?"

"I honestly don't know. They never said if the documentary in Thailand was a one-off or a permanent position within their team. There's also the matter that HR are investigating one of my colleagues for harassment and I'm waiting to hear back from them." Will explained.

"What are you going to do about Caroline? You said that you'd deal with her…how?" Elizabeth asked.

"I have to go to London on Monday, I'll make sure that by the end of next week that Caroline will be dealt with." Will promised.

"Just promise me it won't involve you getting into trouble." Elizabeth pleaded.

"She'll get what she deserves but I promise it won't get me into trouble." He promised.

Elizabeth nodded, finishing up her cereal before putting the empty bowl on her coffee table, watching as Will did the same. While she still felt the pain of losing her baby, she felt relieved that Will finally knew the truth, that she knew the truth, that he wanted to be there for her. She felt like now that the last obstacle was going to be dealt with next week, she could have the chance to get their friendship back on track and deal with their loss together. But she still needed to repair the damage to her familial relationships.

"I think I need to talk to my dad today." Elizabeth said quietly.

"To tell him about the miscarriage?" Will asked.

"Yeah. I know he's hurting that I've not been around much, and I think he needs to know now that you know what happened." She replied quietly.

"It's okay to feel nervous, I would be too." Will said reassuringly.

"I know. But he's going to ask questions. He'll want to know that you fathered the baby, the drama and lies that kept us apart during that time. He'll want to know where we stand now when we don't even know where we stand with each other."

Will nodded, taking a moment to think about what she was saying.

"I think where we stand is two friends who care a lot about each other and are going to come through a difficult time together."

Elizabeth nodded, looking away from him as she accepted his words. Friends. That's what he wanted, that's where they stood with each other. And she wanted her best friend back, more than anything and perhaps, right now…friendship was for the best…until her head was a little less scrambled.

"What is it?" Will asked, placing a finger under her chin and gently pulling her gaze back towards him.

"It's just been so hard…" Elizabeth sighed.

"Do you want me to come with you to your dad's?" Will offered.

"You don't have to-"

"I wouldn't have offered to come with you if I didn't want to, so stop thinking you're bothering me, you're not! If you want your dad to know then there's no reason to hide that we slept together a year ago, that I was the father of the baby you lost, and that Caroline lied to both of us, schemed against us, threatened you and harassed me. Lizzy, when are you going to get it? I'm here because I care about you."

Elizabeth inhaled a sharp breath as he stroked away a stray tear with his thumb.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled.

"Do you want me to come with you to see your dad?" Will asked.

"If you really don't mind. I just think that having you with me would help make it a bit better, it'll help me get what I want to say straight." Elizabeth replied.

"Okay. Why don't you go and get a shower, get changed and then we head over to mine so I can shower and change and then we'll go to your dad's?" Will suggested.

"I'll get changed, I'll have a shower later."

Rising from the sofa, she padded across the living room and exited before walking into her bedroom and closing the door behind her. She took a deep breath as she took off her pyjamas and pulled out some clothes to wear for the day, her mind trying to prepare herself for the day ahead.

ooOoo

After getting ready and locking up, Elizabeth and Will had made the walk back to the road where they had grown up together, where her dad still lived with Lydia and where Will lived with his family. They had first stopped off at Will's, where she waited and chatted with Reginald and Alice for a little while as Will took his shower and changed into a fresh pair of clothes. Once Will was ready, the two of them bade goodbye to Alice and Reginald and left the house, crossing over the road to where her dad still lived.

She took a deep breath as she fumbled around in bag for her set of keys. Even though she hadn't lived at home for the past two years, she still had a set of house keys just like Jane did.

"It'll be okay." Will assured her, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder.

"I hope you're right." Elizabeth sighed.

Placing the key into the lock, Elizabeth opened the front door and stepped inside the house, with Will following her and shutting the door behind him.

"Lydi? Is that you? What have you forgotten this time?"

"It's not Lydia." Elizabeth called back.

She heard footsteps walk through the kitchen and enter the hallway where she and Will stood, meeting the stunned expression on her dad's face when he stopped in front of her.

"Lizzy? What a surprise!" Thomas greeted.

Elizabeth hugged her dad tightly before letting go.

"Sorry for just letting myself in." she apologised.

"I'd be offended if you simply knocked on the front door. This is home, Lizzy." Thomas chuckled.

She nodded, watching as her dad clapped Will on the shoulder in greeting before leading the two of them through to the kitchen where they sat down at the small wooden, circular table as Thomas made them all a hot drink. Elizabeth made conversation with her dad, replying to his questions as to how work was, what she and Will had been up to until Thomas sat next to her at the kitchen table and she took a deep breath.

"Lizzy?" Thomas asked, his voice full of concern, "What's the matter?"

And so, she told him. Everything. She was thankful that her dad didn't interrupt her as she retold the events of the past year. The entire time, Will held her hand supportively, silently encouraging her to talk and assuring her that he was there, that everything would be okay.

And then it was over. She took a breath, feeling slightly proud of herself for not breaking down in tears this time. As she met her dad's gaze, Elizabeth suddenly felt nervous again until her dad leaned across the space between them and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her as he held her tightly.

"Oh Lizzy…I'm sorry…" her dad whispered soothingly.

"Are you angry?" Elizabeth muttered in his ear.

She felt him shake his head against her shoulder.

"No, I'm not angry. I'm hurt that you didn't tell me when it happened, but everything is going to be okay." Her dad sighed.

Releasing her dad, she looked at him with a feeling of guilt. She hated that she had caused him to be hurt but before now, she felt that she couldn't talk to anyone about it because she feared the fallout that may have followed if she did. But now, she knew the truth about the situation with Will and they were moving forward. Together. And now it was time for her to get everything back on track, even if it would take some time.

"Dad…I'm sorry that I didn't tell you…"

"Sssh, it's okay, Lizzy," Thomas said soothingly, taking hold of her hand, "By the sound of things, it was a pretty confusing and terrifying time for you. I'm hurt, of course I am, I wish you told me sooner, but I understand why you didn't. Just, don't keep it from me if it happens again. I'm your dad, it's my job to look after you and support you. But I'm relieved that I know what's been going on with you. I was worried, I was considering an intervention."

Elizabeth nodded, taking a mouthful of her lukewarm tea. Just as she contemplated on how she was going to tell the other important people in her life, her dad asked to talk to Will; alone. Looking from her dad to Will, she sighed and nodded her agreement, getting up from her seat and exiting the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

ooOoo

Will sat on his chair starting to feel nervous. The entire time that Elizabeth had told her dad what had happened over the past year, he felt proud of her bravery and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder to let her know that he was there. And Thomas hadn't been angry, he was hurt which was understandable. But when her dad asked if she could give the two of them some privacy, he felt on edge. A man who he had grown up knowing, who was best friends with his father, now looked at him, completely pissed.

"You slept with my little girl?" Thomas growled angrily.

"She's hardly a little girl anymore." Will muttered.

"Not the point. You slept with my daughter?" Thomas snapped.

"I did." Will confirmed.

"I don't understand it William…you've been best friends since she was old enough to walk…have never expressed romantic interest in her as far as I'm aware…and now I find out that the reason my daughter has been avoiding everyone and limiting her social life for the past ten months is because she lost your baby and was threatened by a nutcase who worked with you in Thailand?"

"I know it's a little…dramatic but she had her reasons. Look at it from her point of view, Thomas, I left for Thailand after she told me to go and then Lizzy found out she was pregnant with my baby. She tried to contact me, got fobbed off with a 'he'll call you back' from Caroline who then phoned her a week later to threaten her with a bunch of lies, well I'm not sure if the thug she's connected to is real or if she just used the bloke's name to scare Lizzy, but the threats scared her. Lizzy felt all alone. If she told everyone there would have been a fallout, sides would have been chosen and she didn't want that. She was going to tell my dad, get him to talk to me but then-"

"She lost the baby." Thomas sighed.

Will nodded.

"If I'd known earlier…I would have come home sooner…I'm ashamed that I didn't know before now." He said desperately.

Thomas looked at him with the same angry look in his eyes, it didn't seem like the man's anger would waiver.

"And just what are you going to do about the situation now young man? My Lizzy has been through a lot of pain and I don't want her to go through anymore."

"I'm going to London on Monday to sort everything out, Caroline will be dealt with." Will promised.

"And where do you stand with Lizzy? Are the two of you just going to move on and be friends again? Or are you going to start a relationship with her? I don't want you mucking her around." Thomas questioned.

The truth was, he didn't know about his future with Elizabeth. Right now, they both had to process the fact that they had lost a baby, get the Caroline situation dealt with and heal. Right now, Elizabeth really needed him to be there for her, as her friend.

"I'm not going to pressure her into a relationship when she has a lot to deal with right now. That wouldn't be fair to her. I'm not even sure if she wants a relationship with me or simply wants to remain friends. But I will be there to support her through this." Will answered truthfully.

"And do YOU want a relationship with Lizzy"?

"Yes."

Thomas looked surprised at his reply. Of course, he wanted Lizzy. He had wanted to be more than friends with her for a long time now but right now, his desires for more were irrelevant. As Elizabeth's dad studied him, he felt like he was on display in a zoo somewhere. It was almost as if the man he had grown up knowing, who had been almost like an extra uncle, was looking at him differently, like he was getting to know him after a first meeting.

"Well this is surprising…" Thomas mused quietly.

"Thomas, I know you're angry but if I could do things over, I wouldn't change the fact that Lizzy and I were together, I'd change the fact that I even went to Thailand in the first place. I know you have lots of questions, but this is for me and Lizzy to figure out." Will said.

"I just don't want her to get hurt even more than she already has been."

"I know. But now we know the truth about everything, I want to make sure that Lizzy recovers from the loss of the baby. Maybe in the future, when things aren't so messy, we'll talk about more. Right now, she needs me to be there as her friend so that's what I'll be. No matter what I feel for her."

Thomas nodded his head, seemingly a little satisfied with the interrogation. Will took a sigh of relief that the other man's questioning seemed to be finished as Thomas stood from his seat and opened the kitchen door to let Elizabeth back into the kitchen.

ooOoo

After spending most of Saturday afternoon at her dad's house, she and Will ended up walking lazily around town centre before popping into one of the local cafés for lunch. As they finished up their all-day breakfasts and sat back in their chairs to let their food go down, Elizabeth met Will's gaze for the countless time that day.

"So, how do you feel?" Will asked.

"Honestly? I'm still a mess. My dad is going to talk to Jane and Lydia about what we told him and then I guess we'll tell the others, they'll need to know at some point." Elizabeth replied quietly.

Will nodded, leaning forwards and took her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"I know. But your dad said he'd tell Jane to give you some space and back off a bit. But it'll take some time to come to terms with losing the baby and getting you back into a normal routine."

Elizabeth nodded in agreement, it was going to take some time to get back into a normal routine after being a workaholic for the last ten months of her life and she wasn't entirely sure how easy or hard it was going to be for her as she adjusted back to a normal routine again. She didn't know just how mad her friends would be or her sisters and she didn't know where she was with Will. Well…she knew where he was.

 _"And do YOU want a relationship with Lizzy"?_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Well this is surprising…" Thomas mused quietly._

 _"Thomas, I know you're angry but if I could do things over, I wouldn't change the fact that Lizzy and I were together, I'd change the fact that I even went to Thailand in the first place. I know you have lots of questions, but this is for me and Lizzy to figure out." Will said._

 _"I just don't want her to get hurt even more than she already has been."_

 _"I know. But now we know the truth about everything, I want to make sure that Lizzy recovers from the loss of the baby. Maybe in the future, when things aren't so messy, we'll talk about more. Right now, she needs me to be there as her friend so that's what I'll be. No matter what I feel for her."_

When her dad had asked her to give him some time to talk to Will in private, she had obliged but that hadn't stopped her from listening at the kitchen door. She had been surprised when her dad had been snappy with Will, he'd always treated Will, Charles and Richard like the sons he never had. But her heart skipped a beat when her dad started questioning Will on what he wanted and had felt grateful that his reply had been he wanted to help her through a difficult time instead of pressuring her into something that she wasn't ready to handle. But at least now she knew what Will's thoughts on the subject was.

And she had to resist the urge to hold his hand as they walked around the city centre, the last thing she wanted to do was give him mixed signals when he was being a friend.

As her green eyes met his brown ones, her heart started racing. Everything else blurred out around them as she squeezed his hand in return.

 _You have feelings for him, Lizzy. He isn't just your friend._

 _For now, he is._

For now, he was. That was true. But maybe soon…hopefully soon…they would become something more.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The train ride to London was only two hours from Portsmouth and Southsea station to London Waterloo, once you factored in the delays in the journey due to works taking place on the tracks. Will had been lucky enough to find a seat on the crowded train, having gotten on with the commuters back in Portsmouth. After arriving at Waterloo and getting on the tube to Oxford Circus, he made the walk from the underground station to the BBC headquarters.

As he sat outside in the waiting area, he opened his messages to see an unread text from Lizzy. The weekend with her had been great, after having lunch on Saturday they had gone out for a walk around Gunwharf Quays and settled on having dinner and drinks in one of the restaurants underneath the flats where she lived. He'd stayed again overnight on Saturday night but left her to spend the day with her sisters on Sunday, giving her the space she needed to work things through with Jane and Lydia.

 _Morning, thanks again for this weekend. I hope your meeting goes well._

He smiled, he hoped that their friendship would be back on track the way it used to be. Well…it wouldn't be the same as it had been before they had slept together, but she was still his best friend and he wanted to be in her life in one way or another.

 _Just waiting to see Louis. I should be home by rush hour, do you want to meet me for dinner?_

 _Your attempt to make sure I don't work late?_

 _I'd hardly call it an attempt at anything, just want to spend some time with you._

 _I'd' love to._

Will grinned at her reply, it was an encouraging sign that Elizabeth wanted to skip the overtime tonight, a step in the right direction. Tapping his reply, he told her that he hoped her day would go smoothly and that he was looking forward to their dinner tonight and then pocketed his phone. Sitting back in his chair, he thought about what the others were going to say when they were eventually told about him and Elizabeth and the baby they had lost, he knew it would only be a matter of time before their friends knew what happened. He could already imagine Anne's reaction, knowing his cousin, Anne would probably question if they were going to be a couple or not. Charlotte, he guessed would try and be supportive. He wasn't sure how Richard would react to the news, but Charles would probably feel uncomfortable given the uncertainty as to whether Jane was pregnant or not.

But before he could ponder anymore on thoughts of how reactions to the miscarriage would go, he heard his name being called.

"William, good to see you! Come on in."

Will got up from his seat, returning the man's smile as he entered the office with the door closing quietly behind him. He took a seat on the opposite side of the desk as the man sat on the other side, looking at him curiously.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Louis." Will said politely.

The older man took a few minutes before answering, he just sat there observing him making Will feel uncomfortable as he stared at the bronzed nameplate that had the name 'Louis Hurst' engraved deeply into it. The older man ran a hand through his fading red hair, his ice-blue eyes fixed solely on Will.

"I imagine you wish to discuss your future with the BBC?" Louis asked.

Will hesitated. Whilst he wanted to know if he would have a permanent job with the BBC, it wasn't his priority for requesting a meeting with Louis.

"I would like to know where I stand but it wasn't the reason why I requested a meeting with you." Will replied.

Louis raised an eyebrow, placing his hands on the desk as he leaned forward.

"Then what is on your mind, William?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Caroline."

ooOoo

The sound of phones constantly ringing, and the general noise of conversation filled the space outside Louis' office. He watched as some of his employees began to leave their desks to head off on their lunch breaks and he wished that he could just enjoy the thirty minutes of his in peace. Today had not been going the way he wanted. As the boss, he knew his workload was stressful. Meeting after meeting. Phone call after phone call. Making sure deadlines were met. Projects after projects. Everything needed his approval and permission. And while Louis knew that he could deal with the stresses of his job every day, this morning he had been shocked; having to listen to William Darcy as the younger man explained the issues over the past year that he'd experienced.

As he finished trying to think over how his morning had gone, there was a knock on the office door. When he told the person to enter, his eyes met those of the person he had been waiting for, making him stand from his seat as he smiled weakly in greeting at the red-headed woman that came to a stop in front of him. The woman leaned over the desk, kissing him on the cheek before taking the empty seat opposite him. Louis sat back down in his seat, saying a polite 'thank you' as the woman handed him over some sandwiches.

"Thank you for coming, Caroline." Louis said politely, unwrapping the sandwiches.

"I have to admit that I was surprised that you could fit me into your busy schedule for lunch, daddy." Caroline muttered, unwrapping her own sandwiches.

Louis watched her suspiciously as she ate her lunch. His relationship with Caroline had always been a little strained. He and her mother had never married, their relationship had been an affair and Caroline were the outcome of said affair, with his daughter taking her mother's last name. And while he only had weekend access to her as a child, he always made sure that his daughter was provided for, he helped her out with a private tutor when she was failing her GCSEs and paid for her to have extra support through her A Levels when she went on to sixth form education and even pad for her university fees when she applied for higher education. And when she had graduated with a degree in journalism, he'd managed to get her position within his work but had insisted that she didn't tell anyone else of their relationship, not wanting the employees to make their connection the new office gossip.

He had always been aware that Caroline could set her mind to something, but he had never noticed that she could be horrible. He had listened to William tell him about what Caroline had done in Thailand, how his daughter had constructed a whole scheme to try and bed William Darcy, had threatened one of the man's friends to keep the girl away from him and had suffered a miscarriage thinking she was isolated, Louis had never pegged that his daughter was the kind of desperate, horrible woman that William had described. After a discussion with the HR department about William's harassment complaint against Caroline and the current investigation for the missing items and broken equipment of the Thailand assignment, he concluded that Caroline had been behind it all.

As he stared at his daughter, he couldn't help but wonder if it was his fault that she had turned out the way she had. Should he have spent more time with her as a child? Shouldn't he have noticed these things about Carrie long before now? He didn't know. But after the morning he'd had, it was all he could think about, trying to pinpoint just when did Caroline turn out to be so horrible?

"So, when does the documentary air?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not entirely sure yet, you only got back a week ago. Did you enjoy yourself in Thailand?"

Caroline shrugged.

"It could have been better. Honestly, the conditions you had me exposed to out there…" Caroline shuddered with disgust.

"It's why you wanted to be a journalist Carrie, to investigate and learn about new cultures. Being exposed to a new way of life should have been refreshing." Louis reminded.

"We'll agree to disagree. So, what's new?" Caroline asked.

Louis took a sip of his water and poured Caroline a cup from the jug that sat on his desk, clearing his throat as he tried to remain calm.

"Well your brother has just finished another freshers week at university-"

" _Half-brother._ He's my _half-brother."_ Caroline corrected.

Louis rolled his eyes, something that had always been part of their strained relationship was how he had been able to raise his other two children full-time while he was only a 'part-time' father to her. He regretted having an affair behind his wife's back, but he had been a very different person back then, he'd had little regard for his wife's feelings. The relationship he'd had with his wife back then was always tense and filled with heated arguments to the point where he had often caught their daughter Penny sat at the top of the stairs, scared that her parents would split up. When he had confessed to his wife about his affair, he had been lucky that Irene had wanted to give him a second chance; one that he took and made sure never to mess up again. And they'd been happy ever since. They'd had another child, a boy they named Louis Jr. but he knew that him spending time with Caroline was a reminder to Irene of his infidelity.

"You should really spend more time with Junior, he would like it if you two had a better relationship." Louis sighed.

"Why would I? I'm just a reminder of how you couldn't keep it in your trousers-"

Louis banged his fist on the table angrily, making Caroline jump in fright as she fell silent. He was sick of her holding a grudge against him for how she came into existence. He had provided for her and in return she was just a scheming liar.

"Do you really want to keep arguing with me, or shall I get straight to the point as to why I asked you to my office for your lunch break?" Louis questioned sternly.

Caroline raised an eyebrow as she tucked a loose lock of red hair over her shoulder.

"What's the matter dad?"

"I've had quite a revealing morning today." Louis informed her.

"Oh?" Caroline quizzed carelessly, picking up her cup of water and pressing it to her lips.

"Yes. I had a very interesting talk with William Darcy this morning." Louis replied.

Caroline's eyes seemed to light up in hope as she shifted in her seat.

"Darcy? Is he coming back to work?" Caroline asked, a little too excitedly.

"That's not what we talked about, Caroline. He told me that you threatened a friend of his, lied and schemed to keep him and this girl apart that resulted in her having a miscarriage without any support around her. William also told me that you constantly tried to bed him while you were working together in Thailand."

Caroline looked shocked as she sat up a little straighter.

"It…Its…I never…It's all lies!"

As Caroline tried to stutter through her excuses, Louis turned his attention to the man who had just opened the office door and entered the room. Louis gestured to the other empty seat on the other side of the desk. William Darcy pulled the seat out and sat down, facing Caroline as she turned a shade of deep red that Louis associated with the colour of a traffic light.

"Good of you to join us, William. My daughter has accused you of lying." Louis said brightly.

William shook his head, continuing to look at Caroline.

"I wouldn't lie about something like this, Louis." The younger man said through gritted teeth.

Caroline looked from William to Louis, her expression turning from embarrassment to desperation.

"Daddy…please…you have to believe me…Darcy…he tried it on with me…I told him no…and now he's trying to punish me for it!" Caroline pleaded.

"I'm not as childish as you are!" William growled.

"Daddy…see he's just angry because I told him no-"

"Stop with the lying Caroline!" Louis hissed, "William made a complaint to the HR department and they've been investigating the complaint. They've spoken to William and the other colleagues who were with the two of you on assignment in Thailand and there are several witness statements that back up William's version of events."

"Daddy…I…" Caroline stammered.

"I also suspect that it was you behind the passports going missing, the equipment being sabotaged, and other people's property being broken."

Caroline didn't answer this time, she simply bowed her head in shame as she looked down at her lap. Louis felt his stomach sink in his chest, filled with nothing but disgust and disappointment that his own daughter could be so vile.

"What you did Caroline…you isolated someone who means the world to me. Because you threatened her in the most horrible of ways, she felt alone and couldn't turn to anyone. You lied about knowing a thug and people who could ruin every aspect of her life. For the past ten months she has been struggling, shutting herself off from everyone who cares about her. You made her think that I didn't care about her. You made her feel hurt, scared and betrayed. Are you really that pathetic that you couldn't just accept that I only wanted to be friends? And even after your repeated attempts to seduce me, I only saw you as a colleague; something which I made perfectly clear and wanted to treat you professionally." William said calmly, his voice filled with disgust.

Caroline looked up from her lap, her eyes narrowed and glaring at the two of them.

"I could have given you everything!" she hissed at William bitterly, "I could have made you happy. You could have had an amazing career with the BBC through my connections!"

"You couldn't have given me anything I want! You're a vile person. A pathetic excuse for a human being after doing what you did. You're lucky that I don't throw you across this room-"

Louis cleared his throat, causing the two of them to turn their attention to him. He didn't know when Caroline had become a schemer but the situation that she had created had caused so much havoc that he was uncertain just how his relationship with her was going to be affected. But what he did know was that she needed to face the consequences of her actions.

"Are you at least going to apologise to William? You have caused a lot of trouble for him and his friend." Louis pointed out.

Caroline laughed cruelly.

"No. That little slut was stupid enough to get herself pregnant-"

William banged his fist on the table, sending an echo throughout the office that even some of the employees that walked past Louis' office stopped and stared in through the window. Louis waved at them, gesturing for them to carry on walking as he turned his attention back to the other two people in his office.

"She's anything but a slut. If anyone fits that description, it's you!" William growled angrily.

"Alright William, I understand that you are angry. Let me deal with this." Louis interrupted.

"Deal with what exactly daddy?" Caroline cooed.

"The mess you've created. Just like I always do."

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"I'm appalled that my own daughter would do all these things. I'm ashamed to even call you my daughter-"

"You don't even associate me as your daughter at work!" Caroline argued.

"That's for your own benefit. I didn't want people to assume that you were only given because you're my daughter. Even thought that's true!" Louis said harshly.

Caroline looked hurt by his declaration, but she didn't come up with a reply.

"I'm giving you one last chance. Are you going to apologise to William?"

"No." Caroline insisted stubbornly.

"Then you've given me no choice, Caroline. You've done some atrocious things and you need to be punished for them. Your career as a journalist is over. You won't work for the BBC as a journalist again and I will certainly let my journalism connections know what you've done if you even attempt to try and get another job in the field. Sabotaging equipment, breaking other people's possessions, passports going missing so that the filming schedule is reason enough for me to demote you." Louis said firmly.

"But…you can't…I have rent…bills to pay…" Caroline stammered.

"Don't worry dear, daddy won't let you go completely. You'll still be working in the building, I've transferred you over to the cleaning crew, you start tomorrow morning sharp and early!"

Caroline looked mortified at the news that she would have to clean up after the people she had worked closely beside for the last few years at the BBC and Louis felt he had no choice but to deliver her a harsh lesson.

"But…But… I WILL NOT SCRUB TOILETS!" Caroline yelled.

"Oh, but you will. I'm cutting the purse strings, sweetheart. If you want daddy's money, daddy's approval or daddy to bail you out again in the future, then you must bloody earn what hard work looks like. Now your lunch break is over, go to the cleaning office and get your uniform. Maurice wants to train you this afternoon with the basics." Louis ordered.

Giving a huff, Caroline got up from her seat quickly and yanked open the office door, slamming if with as much force as she could muster as she stormed out of the office.

ooOoo

Will sat on the other side of the desk in silence. He knew that Louis would punish Caroline for what she had done but he didn't know what to thin of this punishment. After their discussion this morning, Louis had insisted that he join him and Caroline for lunch and a conversation with his former colleague about her behaviour and he had accepted; seeing it as an opportunity to tell the woman once and for all that he wasn't interested. Instead, he'd seen a father be harsh and punish his daughter with a job that Caroline considered as degrading.

"There you are William, she's being punished. I will certainly make sure that she works hard." Louis promised.

"Can I just ask…why scrubbing toilets?" Will asked curiously.

"She needed to be taken down a few notches. For her sabotaging the work stuff, that earns her a demotion. For what she did to you and your friend…what better way to teach a vile person a lesson than making her scrub vile toilets that her former colleagues use?" Louis asked.

"I appreciate you helping me with this situation. It was hard for me to not hurt her the way she's hurt Elizabeth."

"I'm not just her father, I'm her boss. I thought I could get through to her about how unacceptable and hurtful her actions were, but she's only shown me her true colours. I can't eliminate the fact that she's my daughter and this situation has certainly made me question a few things, but she's being dealt with."

Will nodded his understanding, feeling a little bad that he had ruined Louis' relationship with Caroline but he couldn't just stand by and let Caroline get away with everything.

"I'm sorry, for putting a strain on your relationship with her." he apologised.

Louis gave him a reassuring smile. A small one, but reassuring all the same.

"Caroline and I have always had and always will have a strained relationship because of my past actions. This isn't your fault, William." Louis said sadly.

"But still…I feel bad."

"It's only human to feel that way. But now we still have the matter of your future with the BBC to discuss."

"Will it take long? I have a promise to keep back in Portsmouth." Will asked.

Louis smiled and shook his head.

"No, it won't, m'boy. I'll make it quick."

ooOoo

The evenings were starting to get darker a lot earlier than Elizabeth had been used to lately, a sure sign that the cold air of winter would soon be upon them. As she locked up her flat and placed her keys in her coat pocket, she walked down the stairs and met Will in the lobby to her building.

"Hey." She greeted warmly.

"Hey yourself." Will smiled.

Elizabeth took a breath and the two of them left the building, taking a slow walk as they stepped outside into the night.

"So, how was your day?" Elizabeth asked.

"You want to know what happened with Caroline now?"

She nodded her confirmation, not wanting the mood of the night to be spoiled by a discussion of Caroline. It was better to get that out of the way with now. So, she listened as Will told her about his day in London, how Louis had punished his daughter by demoting her to scrubbing toilets for a living for all the shit she had caused, how Louis seemed saddened that his daughter could do something like she had. How Caroline seemed unapologetic and uncaring about the things she had done.

"To be honest, I didn't expect her to apologise when you told me that you were going to make sure she was dealt with." Elizabeth sighed.

"He said he was dealing with it, he told me that he thought it was a fitting punishment for her by ending her journalism career and making her learn how to work hard. But HR have closed the investigation after speaking to my other colleagues who were with me in Thailand."

"Think of it like this; she won't ever work in her desired field again. She won't bother us again."

"I suppose so, Louis is definitely going to keep a close eye on her. How did things go with Jane and Lydia yesterday?" Will asked.

"It was fine. Both were hurt that I didn't tell them, but we had a long talk and spent the whole afternoon together. It's going to take some time for them not to be mad with me for it but overall, it went better than I thought it would." Elizabeth replied.

"That's good. At least you got to spend some time with them. Did they ask a lot of questions?"

Elizabeth smiled slightly and nodded.

"Too many." She said.

"I suppose they're curious…" Will muttered.

Elizabeth smiled her agreement.

"So…did you talk to Louis about your future with the BBC?" she asked.

Will nodded.

"Louis offered me a desk job at the BBC broadcasting house in Southampton." He said happily.

"Oh Will! That's brilliant! Congratulations." Elizabeth squealed excitedly.

They stopped for a moment, sharing a look until Will held out his hand to her. Elizabeth looked at the gesture, gazing to his hand before looking back at him. Returning his encouraging smile, she took his hand the two of them walked off in the direction of the Gunwharf Quays restaurants.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** My apologies that I haven't updated this story for a while. If you haven't read my last update to A New Beginning then I want you to know the reason why. For the last eight years I have struggled with depression and things were starting to get bad again that I had to go back on my medication and seek counselling. Things have been tough and it's been a few weeks now and I'm slowly starting to feel better. But please bear with me as I try and get back into a normal routine with my writing.

This chapter has been one that I've been putting off because of everything going on in my personal life but today I'd had enough. I was supposed to be finishing off an assignment I have due for uni in two weeks but seeing as that was making me so wound up to the point my laptop decided to keep freezing me out of the uni website that I couldn't access the online materials, I decided to take a break from all things uni for tonight and finish this instead. Sorry if it's not my best work but I wanted to get this chapter finished and posted after weeks of it being unfinished.

I don't know when Chapter Eleven will come but I hope for it to be posted soon.

Enjoy. And thanks for your support and patience, it really means a lot to me!

 **Chapter Ten**

It had been three weeks since Elizabeth had told her sisters about her miscarriage and her night of passion with Will. In those three weeks, things were slowly changing for her. She was starting to not spend every single night doing overtime and was starting to reconnect with her loved ones. She had dinner with her dad and sisters, went shopping with Charlotte and was due to go to her first Fleet Friday tonight but first she had other things to do.

She'd also had to deal with the unexpected confession from her sister that Jane had experienced a pregnancy scare. While she was still dealing with her own emotions about her own pregnancy and the loss of the baby she could have had, she also found herself trying to support Jane through her own pregnancy scare and then found out that Jane wasn't pregnant at all. So, once that had been dealt with, they were quickly thrown into planning the wedding that would be happening in February.

Leaving the office at five like everyone else was something she hadn't done for a long time, but she'd accepted the fact that now everyone knew about her situation, she needed to get back into a normal routine of leaning on her friends when she felt crushed and hurt, talking to someone about the feelings she had instead of bottling them up and pushing everyone away and most of all, she needed to get her life back together. And tonight, she was looking forward to socialising with her friends again as she left the office with Charles.

"We're meeting Char, Anne and Rich at The Fleet and Will is meeting us at mine. Jane is so excited for you to try your dress on." Charles said happily.

"Does it feel weird? Knowing that you and my sister are getting married in a few months?" Elizabeth asked.

"Kind of. It feels weird that we've finally set a date after being engaged for the last year and a half, so it will take some getting used to. But at the same time, it feels amazing that Jane is going to be my wife, I know that she's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with." Charles replied.

Elizabeth smiled, noting the look of contentedness on Charles' face when he talked about her sister. That was what she wanted. Someone who looked at her like Charles looked at Jane, the way he looked when he thought about her sister. And there was one person who did look at her like that…

As Charles parked his car outside the house that he and Jane rented, Elizabeth unbuckled her seatbelt as her future brother-in-law switched off the engine and unbuckled his seatbelt. The two got out of the car and were greeted by an enthusiastic Jane at the door.

"Come in! Your dress is hanging on the back of the bathroom door!" Jane squealed.

Letting out a slight laugh, she hurried up the stairs and locked herself in the bathroom. As Jane said, she saw her bridesmaids dress hanging on the back of the bathroom door. She looked at the dress in admiration, touching the fabric and noted how soft it felt under her fingertips. Elizabeth quickly shed herself of her work clothes and pulled the dress on gently before looking at herself in the mirror that was screwed onto the back of the bathroom door. The dress was beautiful, a lovely shade of silver, a fitted bodice with delicate silver beading sewn into the fabric. Two delicate and thick straps went over her shoulders and the skirt fell to her knees and flowed freely around her legs.

Opening the bathroom door, she walked downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs her sister stood talking to Charles, and to her surprise; Will. Instantly her eyes met his and she smiled at him warmly, trying to ignore the sudden increase in her heart rate. He looked speechless as he eyed her in the dress, his expression of wonderment seemingly going unnoticed by Jane and Charles as the other two turned to look at her.

"Lizzy, you look amazing." Charles complimented.

"Amazing? She's beautiful. Do you like the dress, Lizzy?" Jane asked.

Elizabeth smiled and her sister and nodded, she loved the dress. It fitted her well, it was beautifully made and most importantly, she felt comfortable wearing it. With the wedding only five months away, Jane was starting to rush through the organizing and desperate to make sure that everything was perfect.

"I'm going to change back, where do you want me to put the dress?" Elizabeth asked.

"Hang it back on the bathroom door, I'll put it away later." Jane instructed.

Nodding her head, Elizabeth headed back up the stairs and locked herself in the bathroom to change back into her original clothes. As she unzipped the dress, her phone buzzed against the side of the bath. Picking it up, she couldn't help the grin that formed on her face.

 _I know you're supposed to watch the bride at weddings, but I know who I'll be looking at. You looked amazing in that dress. W x_

ooOoo

"So, how are we supposed to act around them?" Anne questioned curiously.

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she handed over the cash to pay for her drink. It had been a week since the rest of the group had found out about Elizabeth and Will and the whole messy situation surrounding them. It had been a bit of a surprise when Jane had shared the news with the group and the truth was they were still trying to process the fact that two of their best friends had slept together a year ago. But here they were at The Fleet awaiting the arrival of the rest of the group and not sure if Elizabeth and Will were a couple or not.

Having finally been told that Will had fathered a baby with Elizabeth and then her best friend had suffered a miscarriage, Charlotte had been surprised. All those weeks ago when she and Lizzy had had dinner together and they had spoken about how Lizzy was avoiding everyone and when Lizzy had been in pieces because something had happened to her…Charlotte never would have guessed it was because her friend had lost Will's baby. But, that's what had happened. A whole, crazy situation but she could understand why Elizabeth hadn't told anyone. She, herself, was hiding her own secret for the time being.

"I suppose we just try and act normally. Lizzy has been through a lot, she lost Will's baby and was threatened by a nutjob, so I think she needs us to be a friend right now rather than quiz her about her relationship with Will." Charlotte replied.

"It's just kind of depressing. Charles and Jane are getting married, Will and Lizzy are a will-they-won't-they couple, there's only three of us left that aren't hooking up with each other and it's not like I can get together with Richard. He's my cousin, how wrong would that be?" Anne ranted, shivering in disgust at the thought.

Charlotte bit her lip as she thanked the waiter for handing over her drink. As Anne paid and ordered hers, Charlotte thought about what her friend had said. The truth was, Anne was the only single one left in the group. After their drunken kiss weeks ago, she and Richard had agreed to explore more than friendship between the two of them when it was established that they felt more than friendship for each other. And because her relationship with Richard was still quite new, they were keeping it quiet from the rest of the group until they both felt the time was right to announce their relationship to their friends.

"I think if you got together with your cousin it would be gross and from a genetic point of view, if you and a cousin had a child together it might have a gene mutation or something. Besides, it's not like you can get with Richard anyway."

Anne raised an eyebrow as she took her drink from the bartender and the two of them walked over to the booth were Richard had placed his coat to reserve the table. They sat down and took of their own coats as they waited for Richard to finish having his cigarette outside. As Anne took a sip of her wine, Charlotte waved at the four friends they were for. Hugs were exchanged before Elizabeth, Will and Jane sat down, and Charles went up to the bar to order the rest of them some drinks.

Richard returned from finishing his cigarette and sat at the table, but before they could all catch each other up, the atmosphere suddenly turned awkward.

"So…are you two an item now?" Anne questioned.

Everyone went quiet and their faces fell, everyone looking from Anne to Will and then to Elizabeth who seemed very uncomfortable with Anne's question.

"Not now, Anne." Will said determinedly.

"It's a valid question." Anne replied defensively.

Charlotte kicked Anne from under the table. From the look on Elizabeth's face, it was clear that their friend was feeling uncomfortable in being at The Fleet. And Charlotte wished she could have prevented Anne from asking her question, it wasn't any of their business if Will and Elizabeth were together or not. But Anne being Anne, she didn't always think of the consequences before speaking.

"And one we're not answering right now." Will stated firmly.

"And we're just supposed to pretend that the two of you are just friends?" Anne quizzed, "The two of you slept together-"

"And the last time I checked we didn't need your permission to do so." Will argued.

"I'm just curious-"

"Anne. I love you to death but please, shut up." Richard said quietly.

Charlotte watched as Anne muttered a meek apology and hid behind her wine glass. As Richard told Will and Lizzy that he understood it would take some time to figure things out, a lot had happened and they both needed time to adjust, she found herself backing up Richard by offering her support and ear if they needed to talk to someone about it. As Will and Elizabeth gave them a quiet 'thank you', Charles changed the subject just as one of the bar staff announced they were holding a quiz that night.

"Fancy taking part in the quiz?" Jane asked.

The group all murmured their agreement and fiddled around in their pockets and purses to get some change together to take part in the quiz.

ooOoo

The evening had gone pleasantly, despite Anne's questioning, having their usual catch-up as a full group for the first time in ages. They had come second in the quiz and talked more about Charles and Jane's wedding plans before Will had offered to walk Elizabeth home after seeing her trying to hold off a yawn.

As Will and Elizabeth made the walk back to her flat, he couldn't help but feel that the night could have gone better. With Anne's questioning about their uncertain relationship, he knew that Elizabeth must have felt just as awkward and uncomfortable as he did. After Anne's apology and sulking, Richard and Charlotte had offered some supportive promises to be there if they needed to talk and then Charles steered the conversation to how Will's new job was going. It had been three weeks since Louis had offered him a position with the BBC in Southampton and two weeks since he had officially started his job there and so far, he loved it. The office was busy, he was kept occupied and the people he worked with seemed friendly but not overly friendly as Caroline had been in the earlier days of him working with her. It was a forty-minute drive there each morning and the same every evening when he left the office at five to get back home. But he didn't mind the drive. At least he had a job that was closer to home this time around.

The two walked into the lobby of her building and up the stairs until they stood outside her front door together. He looked down at her, keys in hand twiddling with the rough edges as her eyes met his.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Elizabeth exhaled but nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah. I just…I knew that the others would be surprised by…everything…but I wasn't expecting Anne's questioning. Jane said that she told them not to ask twenty questions."

"It wasn't that many." Will teased.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Figure of speech smart arse."

Will laughed, his hand cupping her left cheek as he stepped closer to her. Over the past few weeks, they had gotten closer. Moments were shared. Hands were held. Smiles and lasting glances were exchanged. And he was sure that she felt the same way as he did. As she kept his gaze, it was as if a magnet was drawing the two of them closer together. His forehead bumped against her own as he leaned down, his hand still cupping her cheek and his other reaching out and intertwining his fingers with hers. His heart was beating faster in his chest, his nose touching hers and his lips merely centimetres away from hers. This was what he wanted. It was what she wanted and neither of them wanted to stop it…

But before his lips could meet hers, they were interrupted by the sound of a loud ringtone coming from Will's coat pocket. Letting out a frustrated but longing sigh, they pulled apart from each other and Will looked at her apologetically. Elizabeth gave him a reassuring smile and gestured for him to answer his phone as he pulled it out of his pocket and rolled his eyes, pressing the answer button.

"Georgie, this had better be a good time!" Will said, his tone full of annoyance.

"Will, can you meet me from work? There's some creeps that were hanging around pestering me for my phone number earlier in my shift and they're still hanging around outside." Georgiana pleaded on the other end.

"Hanging around? Have they done anything?" Will asked.

"They kept making lewd remarks to me and Lydia, but she already left with Denny when she finished her shift. I'm closing tonight, and these creeps won't take no for an answer. Please Will, I don't feel safe walking home by myself." Georgiana replied.

"Okay. Finish up and wait for me. I'll text you when I'm outside your work."

"Thanks, Will, you're the best!"

Ending the phone call, he looked back at Elizabeth apologetically.

"I'm sorry, that was Georgie. She doesn't feel safe walking home by herself because there's some creeps hanging around outside her workplace." Will explained.

Elizabeth nodded her understanding, giving him a small smile.

"You don't need to apologise or explain. Go and be the good big brother that you are and keep your sister safe. I'll see you later." She replied.

"Text me if you need anything." Will offered.

"I'll be fine, but I'll keep you in mind if I do." Elizabeth said confidently.

Giving her a nod, he dipped his head and pressed his lips to her cheek and kissed it lightly before pulling away.

"Goodnight Lizzy."

"Goodnight Will."

As she turned to unlock her front door and he started to walk back down the hallway, he turned back to her and called her name.

"Lizzy?"

She turned to look back at him, their eyes meeting warmly as they gazed at each other.

"Yeah?"

"I meant what I said earlier. You looked amazing in that dress." Will said softly.

She didn't say anything in reply, but he noticed how she couldn't hide the happy smile and the blush in her cheeks at his compliment. Giving him a wave goodbye, Elizabeth unlocked her front door and disappeared behind it as Will walked out of her building, feeling pleased that although it was going slowly, it definitely appeared that the two of them knew just what direction they were heading in.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** I'm not sure when I will be able to post Chapter Twelve (which will be the last chapter in this story) as today I got the confirmation my house move is definitely going ahead in just over two weeks. So bear with me!

This one I really loved writing and I hope you lovely readers will enjoy reading it.

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **Two months later…**

The winter had definitely arrived. The city had been decorated with Christmas lights in the city centre and Gunwharf Quays which Elizabeth loved as her flat overlooked one of the large Christmas trees that was lit up over the temporary ice skating rink that had been set up outside her flat. The Christmas market stalls had been set up in the city centre and the shops had extended their opening hours for the citizens to do their Christmas shopping as the festive period was coming nearer.

As Elizabeth unlocked her front door, took off her boots and stepped inside the flat, the sound of someone moving around in her kitchen filled her ears. Cautiously picking up her boot from the shoe rack, she tiptoed down the hall and turned into the kitchen, holding the boot high above her head as she prepared to use it as a method of defense if she needed to. As she stood in the kitchen doorway, she let out a sigh of relief as she dropped the boot to the floor.

"You could have told me that you were coming over!" Elizabeth greeted.

Will turned around, holding an onion in his left and a knife in the other.

"Lydia gave me the spare key, I wanted to surprise you by making you dinner." Will said warmly.

Elizabeth felt touched that he wanted to do something nice for her. She exited the kitchen and placed her boot back on the shoe rack before returning to the kitchen and saw Will looking for something in her cupboards.

"What are you looking for?" Elizabeth asked.

"Chopping board. Where do you keep it?"

"Cupboard to your right."

She watched as Will pulled her chopping board out of the cupboard and placed it on the kitchen side to start chopping some vegetables.

"Do you want some help?" Elizabeth offered.

"You can chop the mushroom and onion while I put the spaghetti on."

Walking across the kitchen, she nudged Will with her hip and took hold of the knife and started to slowly chop the mushrooms until Will told her to stop.

"You want to cut them into small cubes, not just random shapes." Will instructed.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously? You are picky about how the meal prep is done?" she asked teasingly.

"I haven't cooked for you before, so I want everything to be perfect." Will replied.

Elizabeth let out a slight laugh as Will stood behind her, enclosing her in his arms as his right hand covered hers and held tightly on to the knife whilst the left pushed the vegetables towards the knife and chopped the mushrooms just how he wanted them to be cut. Elizabeth felt a shiver run down her spine as his warm breath hit a sensitive spot on her neck, being this close in his arms was starting to bring back memories of their night together and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be reliving those memories.

In the past two months life had slowly returned to the way it had been before the miscarriage. She was leaving the office at five like everyone else, well minus the one occasional night every few weeks for overtime, and her social life was getting back to normal. Her time with Will was something that she looked forward to every week, often going out for dinner or seeing a film and while they were growing closer, they were yet to have the talk and establish whether they would pursue a romantic relationship together. She knew how Will felt after overhearing his conversation with her father all those months ago and at the time she had been grateful that he was willing to be patient and give her some time. But now she felt that she was ready to take that step. She felt nervous because Will was her best friend, but she knew that she had deeper feelings than friendship for him and she was ready to explore more with him.

"You okay?" Will whispered into her ear.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and held her breath, nodding slowly as she tried to steady her increased heart rate. Will released his grip on her hands and moved his hands up her arms, resting them on her shoulders. Even through her cotton work shirt, her skin felt ignited underneath his touch and her temperature was rising, the need to feel his lips against hers was started to form within her as she turned in his arms with her back pressed against the kitchen counter.

"Will…" she breathed.

His forehead bumped against hers, his breath on her face. His hands moved to the top of her back as he pressed himself against her.

"No interruptions…" Will murmured.

Elizabeth slowly nodded, her breathing becoming ragged. After their interrupted kiss two months ago, their time alone seemed to be interrupted. First had been Georgiana's call because of some creeps that had been hanging around outside her place of work and while nothing had happened to his little sister, Elizabeth knew that Georgiana needed to be kept safe. And then there was Anne who seemed to be the third wheel if Elizabeth and Will were left alone together for more than three seconds which was starting to irritate everyone. And now…they were alone in her flat and both hoped that nobody would interrupt them this time.

They both seemed to be on the same page. They both wanted this to happen.

"If I kiss you…I won't be able to stop…" Will warned in a whisper.

"I don't want you to stop…" Elizabeth muttered back, her eyes meeting his.

The look in his eyes. It was the same one she had seen so long ago now. The same look he had on his face when they had shared their first kiss. Without even hesitating, without even wanting to take it slow, she gave into her urge. Elizabeth pressed her lips to his and kissed him hungrily; the way she had wanted to kiss him for so long. A kiss that expressed how much she couldn't stop thinking about him, how she wanted him, the passion and need and want to be with him. Will groaned against her lips, returning her enthusiasm as he pulled her into his arms and stepped them away from the counter and slowly walked the two of them out of the kitchen. He continued to kiss her, the two of them fumbling down the hallway until they reached her bedroom and opened the door, not bothering to kick it closed.

Elizabeth fell backwards on to the bed and pulled Will on top of her as he broke away from her lips and gazed deeply into her eyes. She smiled up at him as she felt her temperature rising, her cheeks feeling flushed as she ran her hands through his hair.

"Lizzy…" Will breathed against her lips.

"Will…" she whispered back.

"Before anything happens, there's something that you need to know."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Will cupped her face with his left hand, stroking his thumb gently along her cheekbone as his forehead pressed against hers.

"I'm not going anywhere this time. If we do this, then I want it to be because we're together. For good. Nothing else will get in our way." He declared softly.

She felt tears of joy fill her eyes as she lightly kissed him before pulling away to meet his gaze. Now was their time. She knew it as the realisation came to her that he wasn't just her best friend, but he was the man she couldn't imagine her life without. She had gone a whole year without him in her life, without seeing him everyday and that had been painful. She had lost his baby and now looked forward to seeing her phone light up with his name alerting to a new text message. Will. He was her last thought before she went to sleep each night and the first person she texted each morning when she woke up and ate her breakfast. Will was the one person she wanted to have in her life until she took her last breath.

But before anything else could be done, Will brought her out of her thoughts.

"I love you, Lizzy."

ooOoo

As soon as their lips had met, Will knew he was goner. For months all he had wanted was to kiss her, be with her and now it looked like he was finally going to get what he had dreamed of for so long. He had been patient, understanding because she needed some time to get her head straight after everything that had happened. She needed to process the fact that she had lost their baby and he didn't want to complicate things for her. So, he'd been her friend, helped her through a difficult period and they had become closer over the months that had passed.

And now here he was, telling her that he loved her. He needed her to know how he felt, that he was in this for the long haul. There had been so much confusion and they hadn't talked about their feelings for each other until now. He didn't want to carry on the way they were currently going, even if he did enjoy being with her but now they both needed to know just where they stood with each other.

As Will gazed down into her eyes, he saw her look at him as if it was the first time she was truly setting her eyes on him. Her hands ran through his hair gently before she pulled herself up and captured his lips with her own and then broke away.

"I..I love you...too…" Elizabeth breathed happily.

Will let out a sigh of relief. It was always going to be a risk, telling her how he felt. Telling her those three words that he had wanted to tell her for so long and now he had said them, and she had said them back. He kissed her forehead and noticed that she seemed a little nervous.

"What's wrong?" Will asked.

"I just…really don't want to mess this up…I want to get this right…with you…" Elizabeth replied quietly.

Will cupped her face and smiled down at her. He understood her fears. After their first night together and the events that had followed, it was completely natural for her to feel like something could go wrong again and neither of them wanted to lose each other. But they both knew that because of their feelings, they couldn't simply just stay friends any more. There was this connection between them and no matter how Will had been patient for the last few months, he knew it was only a matter of time before he was pulled to her, like a magnetic charge.

"We'll figure it out together, I promise." He whispered.

Nodding her agreement, Elizabeth brought her lips up to his and kissed him fiercely. Will groaned his approval and pressed himself closer to her, content on continuing kissing her, their dinner plans becoming long forgotten.

ooOoo

Elizabeth sat in her bed, her wavy hair tousled and wearing Will's t-shirt with her duvet wrapped around her lower body. She couldn't help but grin to herself as she recalled the evening they had spent making love to each other until Will heard her stomach growling in hunger and insisted on making her dinner. So, here she was, listening to Will prodding about in her kitchen preparing dinner whilst she felt happier than she had for a while.

Kicking back the duvet, she pulled on a fresh pair of knickers from her chest of drawers and padded through to the kitchen, placing her cold fingertips to Will's bare torso, making him jolt with surprise.

"Your fingers are freezing." Will laughed, turning around to face her.

She grinned back and leaned up to kiss him before pulling away and propped herself up to sit on one of her counter tops. Watching as Will stirred the minced beef in with the sauce and vegetables that he had prepared, Elizabeth couldn't help but think how this time a year ago, she had miscarried Will's baby.

The miscarriage hadn't really been spoken about in too much detail since Will had guessed that she had lost their baby. While she felt better about it finally being out in the open and being able to move on with her life, she still felt uncertain about it.

"Lizzy? Lizzy? Earth to Lizzy?"

She blinked, being brought out of her thoughts as Will stood in front of her.

"Sorry, just got lost in thought." Elizabeth apologised.

"Having second thoughts?" Will asked curiously.

She shook her head, pulling him to her and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Not for a second." She whispered reassuringly, placing a light kiss to his lips.

"Then what's wrong?"

Elizabeth let out a light sigh.

"It was this time last year that I had the miscarriage and I guess I've just been thinking about it. I'm scared about what it means for the future."

Will stroked her cheek lightly with his thumb.

"What do you mean, for the future?" he asked.

"What if I get pregnant again? What if I lose another baby? What if I can't have any children?" Elizabeth asked fearfully.

Will sighed, pressing his forehead against hers gently.

"I wish I could give you all the answers, Lizzy. But miscarriages happen a lot, it's a common risk with pregnancy and plenty of women who have lost a baby do have successful pregnancies." He assured her.

"And would you be happy, if I did get pregnant again?" Elizabeth asked.

Will nodded, giving her a warm smile.

"If it happens again, I will be by your side every step of the way. Having a baby with you, Lizzy, would mean the world to me. One day, I would love to have a whole bunch of children with you. But let's just be together, love each other. I won't ever let go." He promised.

Elizabeth nodded her agreement, starting to form little pictures in her mind about what Will had said to her just now. Has he pictured a life for the two of them together? Well, he had just said that he would love to have a whole bunch of children with her one day so that kind of gave the impression that he did. Just how long had he been in love with her? Longer than the fifteen months since they had slept together?

"A whole bunch of children, huh?" she questioned, "You've thought about things like that?"

Will smiled shyly at her before nodding his head in confirmation.

"For a while now." He admitted.

"How long?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"I suppose it was when I broke up with Eleanor, I realised that you, aside from Jane, Charlotte and Anne, were the only woman in my life who I had had a constant relationship with. I know we weren't romantic together back then, but it occurred to me that you were the one constant in my life and after you graduated, I realised I felt more for you than friendship." Will replied.

This surprised her. He had had feelings for her for that long? She felt her heart beat faster in her chest and a fluttering in her stomach as she recalled the words he had uttered to her the first time she had kissed him.

 _"You don't know how long I've wanted you."_

Even then, their first night together, he had expressed just how he felt about her. And tonight, he had told her those three words for the first time and she had said them back.

"I love you, Will." Elizabeth breathed.

Will grinned, their noses touching.

"I love you, Elizabeth."

As their lips met for the countless time that night, the two forgot about the burning smell that had been their dinner fill the kitchen until the smoke detectors started going off in the flat. They had both been in a place where they hadn't talked about their feelings, their thoughts but now they were together. Properly. In love and determined to be happy as a couple.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** So here's the final chapter to We Don't Talk Anymore. Instead of focusing on one month in particular, I decided to give you some snippets of their time together as a couple over the months following the last chapter. I hope you all like it.

A further note, I've decided to take a three month hiatus from writing. I'm in a place right now where I need to focus on getting myself better, finish my fourth year of university and get my kids the help that they need. As well as a house move next weekend. So I have a lot on my plate right now. I will return with the next chapter of A New Beginning on the 1st June.

Thank you all for sticking by me.

 **Chapter Twelve**

 **The Following February…**

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you all on the dance floor for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bingley!" the lead singer announced loudly and happily into his microphone.

The guests all cheered and clapped as Jane and Charles entered the hall that they had hired at the Queens Hotel for their wedding reception. Elizabeth joined in with the clapping and smiled warmly as she met her older sister's excited and happy gaze, both sharing the moment that Jane was finally married. When the clapping was finally over, the band started to play with Jane and Charles taking to the dance floor for the first time as husband and wife.

Watching as her sister swayed to the music in the arms of her new husband, she felt a familiar arm slip around her waist.

"They look so happy." Elizabeth said in a whisper.

Will leaned his head down, resting it on her shoulder.

"They do," Will agreed, "They'll have a long life ahead of them."

"I wonder what's next for them, what's next for us." Elizabeth whispered, turning her head to look at him.

Will smiled encouragingly, kissing her briefly before pulling her on to the dance floor as the others started to join the married couple by swaying to the music.

"These past three months have been…heavenly." Will breathed into her ear.

Elizabeth grinned as she wrapped her arms around Will's neck and felt his own wind around her waist as they moved to the gentle music, the sound of the singer's voice carrying all the dancing couples through.

"It's been a dream," Elizabeth agreed, "I never thought five months ago when you came back home that I would be here now. Happy. With you. In love."

"I'm glad that you said that. All I want is to be with you."

"I want the same."

As Elizabeth looked around the room, she noticed in the far corner, hidden away by some curtains was Charlotte locking lips with Richard. Grinning from ear to ear, she tapped her fingers against Will's shoulder and gestured for Will to look in that direction with her head. Watching her boyfriend's head turn, she laughed quietly at his surprised expression.

"Lizzy, I have something to tell you!" Anne sang, rushing over to them both and wrapping her arms over their shoulders.

"What is it, Anne?" Elizabeth asked.

"You know Charles' cousin, Milo? He's only gone and given me his number! We're going out for dinner at the weekend." Anne squealed in delight.

"That's great, Annie." Will muttered, continuing to stare in the direction of his friend and cousin in the far corner of the room.

Anne huffed in annoyance.

"Is that it? You could at least pretend to show some interest-"

But before Anne could continue her rant, she followed Will's line of sight and gasped when she saw Richard and Charlotte kissing in the corner.

"Clearly their idea they would be concealed by the curtains failed." Will said amusingly.

Anne released her grasp on their shoulders and strolled over to where the kissing couple were in the corner, causing Elizabeth to roll at eyes at Anne's interference.

"I really wish she would just mind her own business." Will sighed.

"I know. She gets a bit scared of being the only one without a relationship in our group. Jane and Charles are married now. Clearly Rich and Char are together and we're-"

"Madly in love and about to whisk away from this wedding reception?" Will whispered in her ear huskily.

She felt a shiver down her spine. Elizabeth met his heated gaze, wrapping her arms around his neck once more.

"Well…we've eaten the food, had the photographs done, wished the couple well…I suppose we've done our duties as best man and bridesmaid…" Elizabeth muttered quietly.

Will nodded his head.

"I'd have to agree there. The speeches have been made and the bride and groom will soon be making an exit…"

"And what exactly do you have in mind for us once you've whisked me away?"

"Well it involves carrying out a particular fantasy I've had in my mind since I first saw you in this dress.." Will whispered into her ear.

"Fantasy?" Elizabeth whispered back, closing her eyes as she came up with a few different scenarios in her mind about what he had thought about.

"The minute we are behind a closed, locked door, I'll tell you all about it." Will promised.

Feeling his hot breath against the curve of her neck, the way he was able to plant pictures into her mind without actually giving away too much detail of his fantasy made her desire and need for him grow from a tiny flicker to a full-on flame.

"Get me out of here." Elizabeth breathed.

Grinning from ear to ear, Will took hold of her hand tightly and rushed out of the crowded wedding reception and up to their hotel room.

ooOoo

 **March**

It was the first time in three weeks that the four girls sat round Elizabeth's coffee table drinking a glass of wine each. Elizabeth smiled as she lazily put her feet up on the sofa, trying to make herself more comfortable.

"So, how was the honeymoon?" Charlotte sang, looking directly at Jane.

Anne rolled her eyes.

"Please…it was their honeymoon…code for all they did was have uninterrupted sex." Anne joked.

The girls laughed, watching as Jane turned a light shade of red from embarrassment.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a healthy sex life." Elizabeth said defensively, with a tone of amusement.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow as she took another sip of her wine.

"I take it that you're speaking from experience?" Charlotte teased.

Elizabeth couldn't help the grin on her face as she tried to hide behind her glass of wine. Her relationship with Will was going excellently and they had never been happier.

"And your little relationship with Richard?" Jane mentioned casually, "How's that going? Have you been caught out again by getting a little hot and bothered in a place you thought was private?"

It was Charlotte's turn to become embarrassed, causing all four women to laugh loudly.

"Yeah, okay, we're all in relationships. Charlotte's with Richard. Elizabeth's with Will. Jane and Charles got married. And I'm-"

"With Charles' cousin Milo?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's early days." Anne stated.

"Early days means nothing for you, Annie." Charlotte commented with a smile.

"We're taking it slow, but I really, really like him." Anne gushed.

"Maybe that's a good thing that you're taking it slow. It means you'll get to know each other better." Jane said admirably.

"Well you already know him Jane, so you'll be able to tell if he's a keeper." Charlotte pointed out.

"Milo is sweet, he's considerate. I think he'll be good for you, Anne." Jane stated honestly.

"Thanks Jane." Anne smiled.

"So…tell us, Jane, how was the honeymoon?" Elizabeth asked, steering the conversation back to the original subject.

"It was magic. Two weeks in the Caribbean. It was the perfect opportunity for us to relax and spend some quality time together…" Jane gushed, blushing a deep crimson as the other three raised them eyebrows at her.

"It sounds like the two of you had a wonderful time." Charlotte sighed happily.

"I think it's great!" Anne said enthusiastically, "This time last year we were all in very different places and now it just seems that everything is starting to click together nicely."

As Elizabeth pondered on Anne's words, she couldn't help but agree with her friend that everything really was starting to click together nicely.

ooOoo

 **April**

Their cups of tea sat half drunk and forgotten about on the coffee table as Elizabeth curled up against her boyfriend as Will tapped the keys on her laptop keyboard.

"So, our bosses have given us two weeks off in June. Is there anywhere that you particularly fancy going on holiday to?" Will asked.

"Well it depends on what type of holiday we both want." Elizabeth replied.

"I think maybe a holiday where we can explore at our own leisure but also have lazy days where we can just relax and be with each other is ideal."

"I like the sound of that. Are there any places in the world that you want to explore?"

Will looked down at her and nodded.

"Well I've seen Thailand and it was beautiful. But I've always wanted to see Rome, Pompeii, I would love to go to Paris, explore the palace of Versailles." He replied softly.

"So why don't we do a week in Paris? We can explore Notre Dame, The Lourve, the Eiffel Tower among other things. Then we can do a day at Versailles and then fly to Rome. We can spend a day exploring the ruins of Pompeii and then stroll through the streets of Rome." Elizabeth suggested excitedly.

Will laughed, running his hand through her wavy hair and kissed her forehead.

"It sounds like we have a plan. I'll get everything booked now before I have to go back to mine." He said warmly.

"Are you planning on coming back here once you're finished at home?" Elizabeth asked.

"Can't get enough of me, eh?"

Elizabeth felt her heart beating faster in her chest as she pulled out the small velvet box she had hidden down the side of the sofa before he came over that afternoon. Will looked at her with one eyebrow raised, a look of curiosity on his face.

"I wanted you to have this." Elizabeth muttered shyly.

"Are you proposing?" Will asked curiously.

"No! But I think we're at this point now and I'm really hoping that you won't think I'm trying to rush anything." Elizabeth replied defensively.

Will cupped her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes as his free hand took the small box from her palm.

"Lizzy, I don't think you need to be scared about us rushing anything. I love you, you're the person I want to be with for the rest of my life." Will promised in a soft whisper.

Feeling relieved, Elizabeth smiled and leaned forward, pecking his lips with her own before she nudged his leg with hers; telling him to silently hurry up and open the box. Will laughed, releasing her face as he opened the small box, looking slightly confused at the contents.

"You gave me…a key…" Will said quietly.

"It's yours. A key to my flat." Elizabeth clarified.

He let out a tiny gasp of surprise, a gasp filled with appreciation and meaning before he looked from the key to her.

"You're giving me my own key?"

Elizabeth nodded.

"Yeah, I just thought instead of you knocking every time you come over, you could just let yourself in. It would also save you having to knock on my dad's front door and pester Lydia for the spare key. You'll also be added to my list of people who I know has a key."

"So how long is this list?" Will asked teasingly.

"Not that long! My dad has my spare in case I lose mine, Jane has one, I think Charles did at one point but I think he may have lost it-"

"So, I'm not technically the first male to have been given a key to your flat?" Will joked.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, reaching for the velvet box but Will closed his fist around it tightly.

"What are you doing?" Will questioned.

"Taking it back. You had to make a joke about my gesture." Elizabeth answered with a laugh.

"Hang on a minute, hang on, it's my key now. You can't just take it back." Will protested playfully.

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't."

"Can." Elizabeth insisted, trying to pull his fist open.

"Can't." Will growled, moving his hand to her ribcage and started tickling her.

Elizabeth let out a fit of giggles as she writhed to try and get out of his range. They fell to the floor, still wrestling for control over the velvet box until Will managed to pin her arms above her head. As she struggled to free herself, she noticed the gleam in his eye and smiled widely.

"Thank you for the key, I love it." Will whispered.

Arching her back off the floor, she caught his lips with her own and kissed him passionately.

ooOoo

 **August**

"Alright, honest opinion please. What do you think of this flat?" Will asked.

Elizabeth waked around the empty living room, trying to picture her boyfriend living in this tiny one bedroom flat. The letting agent had excused himself to the kitchen to give them a few moments of privacy to discuss the idea of whether Will should sign a tenancy agreement for his own place.

"You really want my honest opinion?" Elizabeth questioned.

"I wouldn't have asked you here if I didn't. I'm doing well at the BBC and it's been almost a year since I've worked in Southampton. I can't keep living at home forever and it would actually be nice to not have to share the bathroom with Georgie. Your opinion is important to me, Lizzy." Will answered.

The truth was, she didn't think this particular flat would be any good for Will. It was too small; the kitchen was practically the size of a storage cupboard and the rent was too high. Higher than what she paid for her two-bedroom flat in Gunwharf Quays.

"Is it really practical for you to rent your own flat?"

"What do you mean? I've just told you why I need to get my own place."

"I just don't want you to waste your money. The rent on this flat is too high for a one-bed. My two-bed is cheaper. I don't want to see you getting conned." Elizabeth explained.

"So, you're not on board?" Will snapped.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"You asked me for my opinion. Why ask me if you don't like what I'm going to say?" she asked, her voice filled with annoyance.

"You're my girlfriend, you're supposed to be supportive!"

"I am supportive! I've listened to you trying to picture yourself in so many flats now. I've listened to how you're planning to buy this piece of furniture to go where and how you're going to get some pictures of us printed from our holiday. You know the pictures of us at the Eiffel Tower and walking around the ruins of Pompeii because you loved those ones even though I look absolutely gross and don't want them framed and on display. I can put those little things aside because they aren't that important in the grand scheme of things but when it comes to you working as hard as you do only to have the majority of your wages be spent on rent and bills, I have to say something." Elizabeth argued defensively.

"I get it. You don't want me to take this flat." Will replied stubbornly.

"Honestly? No, I don't want you to take this flat. What's the point anyway? Most of your time is spent staying with me and the odd occasion you do decide to stay at home. For Christ sake, you may as well just move your stuff in with me!" Elizabeth yelled.

The couple paused, looking at each other tensely before Will cleared his throat.

"I'm a little confused. What exactly are you saying?" he questioned.

"I'm just saying that aside from being conned out of your hard-earned money, you spend practically all of your time staying with me at my place. So, what's the point in even looking for your own place?" Elizabeth answered.

Will frowned at her in confusion.

"So…what am I supposed to do?"

Elizabeth huffed in annoyance.

"God you men can be a little dense at times." She muttered.

"Your point?" Will asked.

"Why don't you move in with me?"

Will smiled, closing the gap between them as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You think we're ready for that step?" he whispered.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"I think we should make it official, you practically live there most of the time anyway." She laughed.

"This is big." Will pointed out.

"Huge." Elizabeth agreed amusingly.

"Do we get some new furniture?"

Elizabeth looked up at him, it was her turn to feel confused. Why would she need to buy new furniture when she already had a flat filled with the stuff? It wasn't like anything needed replacing.

"Why would we need new furniture?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"I just figured that if I move in with you then it would be nice if some of the stuff in your flat were things we bought together as a couple for our home." Will replied.

Elizabeth grinned up at him.

Our home. She liked the sound of that.

"Ours." Elizabeth whispered softly.

"Ours." Will echoed in agreement.

ooOoo

 **November**

The fireworks lit up the dark sky in a blaze of colours, deep reds to purples and bright oranges, yellows, greens and blues and in the distance, Elizabeth could see the bonfire burning on the IBM fields as the smoke rose high into the sky. When she was a kid, she would often go to watch the fireworks at IBM on bonfire night and watch as the large fire burned the effigy someone had made. The fifth of November was a day of remembrance to a failed plot but tonight she found herself remembering the tough time that she had been through to get to the happy place that she was in right now. She and Will were living together now and at first, she had thought that it would be a challenge, the two of them under the same roof. And at first there had been the usual disagreements over leaving shoes in the wrong place or not letting a dish soak overnight if one of them wasn't going to clean it straight away or what supermarket they were going to do their weekly food shop at. But, quite quickly, Elizabeth realised that she loved having someone to go home to every night.

Since it had become 'their' place, their friends had also made a few changes. Jane and Charles were talking about trying for a baby, Charlotte and Richard had moved in together and Anne had finally settled down with Charles' cousin Milo. Her youngest sister and Georgiana had started their final year of sixth form education and were applying for universities. Life was definitely changing in more ways than one.

"Lizzy?"

She broke out of her thoughts and looked up at her boyfriend. The two of them were sat on a wooden bench at the viewpoint on Portsdown Hill and overlooking the fireworks display. It was something they had wanted to do together to celebrate their one-year anniversary. But they had to celebrate it early because Will had to go to Birmingham for a work conference the week of their one-year anniversary.

"Yeah?" Elizabeth smiled.

"Are you okay? You're a little quiet." Will pointed out.

"I'm fine, just thinking about the past."

"It's been a good year."

"It really has. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I get to spend every single day and night with you." Elizabeth agreed.

"I want forever with you, Lizzy." Will whispered softly, cupping her cheek.

She didn't notice him slip his hand inside his coat pocket and she didn't notice him flick open the tiny black leather box until she saw the colours of fireworks reflected into the diamond ring he presented to her at eye level.

"Will…" she said, unsure of how to proceed.

"I love you, Elizabeth Bennet. I feel so damned lucky that I fell in love with my best friend and I know that I was supposed to end up with you. I want forever with you, Lizzy. I don't want anyone else to share my life, only you. So…I guess what I'm trying to say is…will you marry me?" Will said, so warmly, so heartfelt and with tears of happiness forming in his eyes.

Elizabeth looked down at the ring and then back up to her boyfriend's loving gaze. She hadn't expected him to propose to her tonight. It wasn't as if she wasn't sure about her future with him because she wanted everything that he wanted but it still came as a shock. A nice shock. The twenty second pause felt like an eternity before she gasped out an excited 'YES' and watched as he grinned and slipped the ring on to her finger.

The kiss was short as he pressed his lips to her own. When he pulled away from her, she laughed happily as she wiped away the happy tears that had started to leak from his eyes.

"I've never been this happy." Will confessed quietly.

Elizabeth nodded in agreement, cuddling up closer to him as she began to think a few things over. She had been so nervous, trying not to panic but knowing that he was happy with her and remembering his words from almost a year ago, she knew that now was the right time to tell him.

"Will?"

"Yes Lizzy?"

"When you said you have never been this happy, there is something that I've wanted to tell you for a few weeks now, but I've held off, not knowing when the right time was but now feels like I should tell you."

Their eyes met as he looked down at her in concern.

"What is it?" Will asked softly, squeezing her hand with his as he folded his fingers in between hers, continuing to hold her against him as she looked up at him from his shoulder.

"I'm pregnant."

 **The End**


End file.
